


Here's to Us

by childofsummer



Category: Blindspot (TV)
Genre: Also they kick ass, Everyone Knows Before They Do, F/F, No-one Hates Anyone Else, No-one dies, They are friends that have adventures and shit, all the brotps, did I mention slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 17:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7063834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/childofsummer/pseuds/childofsummer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tasha Zapata is not the kind of woman that gets a crush.<br/>She is also not the kind of woman to be awkward around that crush.<br/>She does not lose focus because of a pretty face.</p><p>Apparently, when it's Patterson, she does all of these things.</p><p>Slow-burn Pattata.</p><p>Reade and Jane spend a solid portion of their time wondering how their friends are so dense when it comes to their feelings. They may have to step in and do something about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What's Your Drink?

“No! No more. I might die.” Jane groans out from her position, face-down on the bar.

“Come on, Jane, you have to. Besides we haven’t found your drink yet.” Tasha grins devilishly at her tattooed friend.

Patterson places a shot glass, filled with a pale green liquid, down in front of Jane and earns a few choice curses for her efforts. Jane’s complaints only draw laughter out of her two companions though. Jane reluctantly peels herself off the countertop and glares suspiciously at her glass. She picks it up and the ladies clink their glasses together.

Patterson shares a sly look with Tasha before calling out “Bottoms up!” She downs her drink and slams the glass down with a grimace. The brunette sitting next to her only seconds behind. Jane steels herself and throws back her drink. She immediately starts coughing, her eyes start tearing up and her throat is on fire.

“What the hell was that?!” she chokes out, to the cackling of her two companions.

“Jane Doe. Meet, the Green Fairy. ” Tasha says with a flourish and a laugh.

“What the hell does that mean?” Jane asks wide-eyed and slightly reeling.

“Absinthe. The magic of liquorice and fire in a bottle.” Patterson states matter-of-factly.

“Well I’m telling you right now that that is definitely not my drink and on that note, I’m out.” Jane stumbles to her feet and pulls her jacket on.

“Yeah we should probably get going too.” Tasha agrees.

 

Tasha and Jane wait by the door while Patterson closes their tab and when the blonde finally joins them they all fall over each other trying to get outside. Jane manages to hail a cab almost immediately and says her goodbyes. Patterson doesn’t live too far from the bar so Tasha offers to walk her home.

They walk in companionable silence for almost a full block before Patterson starts rattling off facts and ‘fun’ trivia of the neighbourhood. Tasha honestly doesn’t care about a single thing that she is saying, but there is something she finds endearing about the blonde when she gets passionate about things. She is walking about one step behind Patterson and she can’t help the small smile that creeps up on her face when the blonde starts waving her arms at an older looking building on the other side of the street. Patterson is still quite drunk and so caught up in what she is trying to show Tasha that she doesn’t register the car that she steps out in front of.

Tasha certainly does.

The blood in her veins turns icy and her brain is screaming at her to protect the blonde. In only a few seconds, she grabs Patterson’s hand and yanks her back onto the sidewalk. The blonde screams as the sudden motion and blaring horn frighten her back to her surroundings. She registers the look of fear and worry etched across Tasha’s face and takes a few deep, calming breaths to steady her racing heart.

Tasha brushes a few stray strands of hair out of Patterson’s face. “Are you okay?” she asks, full of concern for her friend.

The blonde is slightly shaking but she nods her head and in a near whisper says “Thank you”.

“Let’s get you home then, before you get us into more trouble.” Tasha forces a laugh, but it sounds strained to both of them.

Keeping a tight hold of the blonde’s hand, Tasha starts walking back towards Patterson’s house. She tells herself that she’s still holding on to her so she can’t accidentally wander off again, but in reality her heart is still thundering in her chest and the metallic taste of terror lingers in the back of her throat.

All too soon they are standing at the blonde’s front door and Tasha reluctantly lets go of her hand so she can unlock it. Patterson swings the door open and turns back to face the brunette standing awkwardly on her porch. She clears her throat and Tasha’s head snaps up from her shoes to look her directly in the eye.

The unwavering focus makes Patterson hyper aware of what she is doing with her face and hands. Tasha has never made her feel so exposed and uncomfortable before, but she has never looked at her with such care and affection before either.

“Thank you, again. You know, for saving me.” Patterson mumbles, embarrassed by her near accident. “It was stupid and I should have been paying more attention.” She drops her head, unable to endure Tasha’s look of understanding any longer.

The brunette barks out a laugh and pulls the blonde into a tight hug, “You’re welcome. I’d save you anytime, you know that right.”

She takes a small step back to lift Patterson’s chin and receives a small smile in return. Tasha realises quite suddenly that they are standing far too close together to be acceptable by friendship standards, but before she can do anything about it Patterson leans forward and kisses her on the cheek. They wish each other goodnight, then Patterson goes inside and Tasha hears the door lock behind her. The brunette stays rooted to the spot, because that kiss may have been on the cheek, but only just. She lifts her shaking fingertips and gently rests them on the spot right next to her lips. The spot that Patterson’s lips just touched. There is warmth radiating out from that spot and butterflies erupt in her stomach, along with the realisation that she might like Patterson a bit more than what is considered friendship appropriate.

Well shit.


	2. We Are All Adults Here

It has been three awkward, excruciatingly uncomfortable weeks for Tasha. Her tiny crush on Patterson has turned into an all-consuming fascination with the perky blonde and Tasha has had enough. She needs to get her head together, because people are starting to notice how insane she is acting. It probably doesn’t help that she has been actively avoiding everyone. Scratch that. It definitely doesn’t help. She is pretty sure Reade, at least, is catching on and she needs to put a stop to that before he learns anything that he can use against her.

Tasha is busy warming up and stretching out for her training session. She has her headphones in and turned up loud enough to drown out any potential distractions. It is still very early and she is relishing having the gym to herself, at least for a little while. She straps on some gloves and starts a round on the punching bag. It feels great to punch out her frustrations. She gets lost for a while in the rhythmic pounding of the bag and the bass notes in her music. Her blood is pumping and she has a nice sweat worked up, when some idiot comes along and scares the holy hell out of her, by tapping her on the shoulder.

 She swings around, fist raised, momentarily forgetting where she actually is and comes face-to-face with a startled looking Patterson. She pulls out her headphones, wipes some sweaty hair off her forehead and sucks in a few deep breaths to calm her heart rate back down.

“Tasha, are you OK?” Patterson looks at her friend in concern. For weeks now the brunette hasn’t been speaking to anyone, except when she is directly asked about work, and she looks tired and stressed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?” Tasha forces herself to keep eye contact with the blonde and stand her ground, even though she feels like running home.

“I feel like you’ve been avoiding me. I just want to know what I did wrong, so I can fix it.” Patterson looks so sad and Tasha wants to kick herself for being the reason that she’s upset.

Tasha places a comforting hand on the blonde’s arm “Hey, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve just got some stuff to sort out and I guess it has me more distracted than I realised.”

Patterson frowns a bit at ‘stuff to sort out’ but brightens considerably now she knows that whatever is going on with Tasha, it’s got nothing to do with her. “Oh, good. I was worried that it was me.”

“No, of course not.” Tasha takes a few steps back, to remove herself from Patterson’s personal space, even though deep down she doesn’t really want to.

“Great, well you need to get changed. We need you upstairs. I got a hit on another tattoo.” Patterson starts vibrating with excitement, at the possibility of solving a puzzle.

“OK, I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” Tasha takes a couple more wild swings at the bag, before dragging herself off to the shower.

 

* * *

  

20 minutes later Tasha strides into Patterson’s office and joins the rest of the team. She pulls her still damp hair into a loose ponytail while Weller gives everyone a rundown of what Patterson found. The tattoo is a logo for a corporation owned by Vitaly Kazarov. Kazarov has been under suspicion for human trafficking and a boatload of other illegal stuff, but no-one has been able to find any proof.  Weller and Jane will be going undercover at his New York based resort, as happy newlyweds, because they have received intelligence that he is staying there. At this revelation Reade nudges Tasha with his elbow and raises his eyebrows suggestively. She has to bite back the laugh that threatens to escape and he looks relieved that she is going along with his jokes again. She feels a small stab of guilt for ignoring everyone for the last few weeks, these people are her friends and she is going to have to find a way to apologise.

That afternoon Tasha finds herself crammed into a surveillance van with Reade, watching security feed of Weller and Jane acting all lovey and cute with each other. Although, based on the hundred dollar bet she has going with Reade, neither of them are convinced they are actually acting at all. Reade thinks that they are already together and hiding it, but Tasha is sure that there is far too much denial on both sides for anything to have happened yet. On a personal level those two can do feelings and emotions about as well as a rock.

 

* * *

 

 

 

After four unsuccessful days of being crammed in the van with Reade, Tasha is just about ready to breathe fire. They are currently in the middle of a record breaking summer heatwave. The van smells like feet and the air conditioning broke on the second day, so she and Reade have been sweating it out in their underwear. They have a sworn pact to never tell anyone else that they caved and stripped down to their under-things. Tasha cracked first, early on the third day, and almost gave Reade a heart attack when she stood up and took off her pants. It was only about twenty minutes later though, that Reade gave in and got undressed too. Tasha nearly died laughing at the sight of Reade sitting in front of a security monitor in a pair of socks and tighty whities relaying information back to Weller over the coms.

It feels like it is over 100 degrees in the van and Tasha is slowly fanning herself with a folded piece of paper and staring enviously at Jane and Weller taking a dip in the pool. Reade is munching on a bowl of fruit with a damp towel splayed out over his head, when the door gets wrenched open and Mayfair herself is standing outside. All three of them momentarily freeze in shock. Reade is stuck with his spoon halfway to his mouth, Tasha has stopped fanning herself and Mayfair is gripping the door with her mouth hanging open.

Mayfair shakes off her surprise and gets in the van, while Reade scrambles to find something to cover himself with. Tasha is too hot to care and Mayfair has now already seen everything, so why bother.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Mayfair whisper yells at them.

“Well it’s ridiculously hot in here and we couldn’t get a replacement van sent out. This was the only thing we could come up with, to not die from heatstroke.” Tasha states casually, praying to anyone that could be listening that Mayfair won’t ream them out for unprofessionalism.

Mayfair shakes her head at Tasha’s bluntness, but she lets their semi-nudity slide because in the five minutes she’s been in the van she can already feel sweat running down her back and beading up on her forehead.

“I’m not going to say anything about all of this…” Mayfair waves her arms in the general direction of Tasha and Reade “As long as you two are still fine to be working together.”

Reade nods his head and Tasha laughs. “Yeah we’re good. This experience has definitely reinforced our sibling bond.”

“Alright then. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about what I actually came down here for.” Mayfair pulls out a folder and opens it up for Tasha and Reade to see. “This is the computer that Weller and Jane gained access to yesterday. Now we know that the encryption is far too advanced and the security far too tight to crack it on sight and we can’t take it out without tipping someone off, but Patterson has come up with a program that can speed up the process. The only problem is that Patterson needs to be the one to run the program. Kazarov has obviously already seen Weller and Jane, and he saw Reade go in as a janitor on the first day when you set up coms. So that leaves you, Tasha, to get Patterson inside.”

Tasha grins at the thought of getting out of the sweat box. “Yeah, I can definitely do that.”

“Great, I’ve already booked you into the suite next to Kazarov’s room. Weller and Jane will buy you both enough time to get in and out without being seen and Reade will run coms and surveillance from here.” Mayfair flicks the folder shut and stands up, more than ready to escape the van.

“Wait, the only room that was available on Kazarov’s floor was a honeymoon suite.” Tasha says, face falling slightly.

“Well I guess congratulations are in order, Zapata. You just got married.” Mayfair states and slams the door behind her.

Reade’s laughter fills the van and Tasha groans in annoyance. She can pretend to be married to Patterson, no problem. She is a professional and she can play a part to get the job done. She can stand close to the woman and hold her hand and laugh with her. And fuck. Tasha is screwed. How is she supposed to hide her feelings for Patterson when she has to pretend to be married to her?


	3. You, me and the lunatic down the hall.

Patterson is wearing a loose grey Star Wars t-shirt and blue jean shorts. Her hair is all shiny and wavy and Tasha absolutely cannot deal with this. They are hiding out in their room, waiting for the signal from Reade. Patterson is sitting on the edge of the bed, with her leg bouncing up and down in nervous anticipation. Tasha is at the door occasionally checking out the hallway through the peephole. So far, exactly zero people have walked past and she is starting to get bored.

“This is kind of exciting. I haven’t done any fieldwork like this before.” Patterson is staring at the brunette with an amused expression etched across her face.

Tasha is glad that the blonde is confident, but she is also kind of terrified that she might not be taking this seriously enough. “Yeah well it’s all about the timing. This kind of situation can go two ways. Really well or really bad.”

Patterson gulps nervously and starts wringing her hands together. She drops her gaze away from Tasha and towards her lap. Tasha groans internally because now she is worried that she’s shot down the other woman’s confidence and she didn’t mean to at all.

Tasha strides across the room and sits down next to the blonde. She takes the hand that is closest to her and gives it a tight, reassuring squeeze. “I don’t want to frighten you, but Kazarov is a really dangerous guy and I just want you to be prepared.”

“I know and I get it, but it’s kind of hard to be worried when I have such a good team covering me.” Patterson gives the brunette such an earnest smile that Tasha can’t help but smile back.

Before Tasha can say anything else Reade’s voice cuts in through their comms. “I don’t know how, but Weller has managed to get Kazarov to sit down for a round of poker with him. This is the best chance you’ve got Tasha you’d better go now.”

“On it.” Tasha drags Patterson up off the bed and shoots a confident smirk in her direction. “Are you ready, wifey?”

“I was born ready, sweetheart.” Patterson winks at Tasha as she walks through the door that the brunette is holding open for her.

Tasha takes a breath, to calm her heart rate back down after that, and strides out after the blonde. They lace their fingers loosely together and walk calmly down the hallway. They make it to Kazarov’s room without any interference and Patterson pulls out a phone with a key card connected to it by a short cord. She puts the key card into the slot and the door clicks open after a few tense seconds. They rush inside and Tasha takes a lookout position by the door, while Patterson heads straight for the laptop sitting on the desk. She sits in the chair and boots it up. Once it reaches the login screen she pulls a small portable hard drive out of her pocket and plugs it in. Almost immediately it logs her into the main screen and starts breaking down the easier firewalls and encryptions automatically. Patterson herself has to fight her way through the more complex encryptions and she zones out, completely focussed on her work. It takes some time, but she manages to break the codes and she starts cloning the contents of the laptop onto the hard drive.

“Guys, Weller just got his ass beat and Kazarov is heading up to his room. You done in there?” Reade asks in a rush.

Tasha looks over to Patterson and the blonde shakes her head “The copy isn’t finished yet.”

“That doesn’t matter, we’ll just have to take what you already have, because he’s getting in the elevator and Weller can’t stall him anymore.” Reade states, the fear in his voice slightly rising.

“I just need a minute.” Patterson looks Tasha straight in the eye and asks “Do you trust me?”

Conflict plays out across Tasha’s face and she sighs audibly. “Yes, but one minute is all you’re getting. I don’t care if you’re not ready, I will drag you out of here by your hair.”

“Deal.” Patterson goes back to typing furiously and Tasha looks back out through the peephole, both of their hearts thundering in their ears.

“Guys, what the hell? Get out of there now! He just got off the elevator. Jane’s intercepted, but she won’t hold him off for long.” Reade is shouting at them now and Tasha looks fearfully at Patterson.

“I’m done! I’m done, let’s go.” Patterson quickly shuts down the laptop and shoves the hard drive back into her pocket.

“Tasha, unless you come up with a miracle, he’s gonna know you were in his room. He’s almost at the turn in the hallway and he’s going to see you.” Reade is panicking and Tasha has a wild idea.

She swings the door shut as Patterson rushes out, she grabs the blonde by the arm and whispers “Do you trust me?” At the blonde’s furious nod Tasha grins and says “Just go with this.”

Before Patterson can say anything else, Tasha pins her back against the door with her entire body, as Kazarov rounds the corner and sees the two women outside his room. Reade is freaking out and Jane is failing at regaining Kazarov’s attention. Without any further thought Tasha brings her lips to Patterson’s in a bruising kiss that sends her a bit weak at the knees. The blonde responds enthusiastically and both of the women get caught up in the taste and feel of the other. Patterson fists her hands into Tasha’s shirt and the brunette gently cups the blonde’s jaw in one hand and lets the other trail slowly down her back to catch in the hem of her shorts.

Tasha is brought crashing back to reality by a throat clearing right behind her, and she whirls around to come face to face with the man that she was hoping desperately she wouldn’t have to see today.

Kazarov folds his arms across his chest and stares down at Tasha. “Is there a reason you two ladies are pinned against my door like this?”

Tasha fights back the shiver of disgust his lecherous grin is trying to force out and pulls her room card out of her pocket. She looks at the number on the card, then to the number on the door. “I’m so sorry!” she says in a dopey sort of voice. “I must have mixed up the room numbers. It’s our honeymoon and I’ve been kind of distracted today.”

Tasha glances back at Patterson and takes her hand. She is slightly alarmed at how much it is shaking and she prays that the giant man blocking their way hasn’t noticed.

With a final leering grin he waves them out of his way. “I see that, now I have work to do, so you two be on your way.”

“Of course. Again, so sorry for the mix up.” Tasha positively beams at the man and starts dragging Patterson back down the hallway by her hand.

“Come on my love, let’s go.” Tasha laughs and pulls Patterson in closer, to try and hide the bit of the hard drive she can see sticking out of the top of the blonde’s pocket. She spots Jane keeping a look out for them and gives her tattooed friend a subtle thumbs up as they walk past her. Jane sighs in obvious relief and disappears around the bend in the hallway.

 

Every step further away from Kazarov she gets, the further she starts to relax. She can hear Patterson’s breathing evening out and Reade is actually cheering over the comms. They head straight downstairs and meet up with Weller and Jane. They both hug Patterson and congratulate her on a job well done and tease Tasha on her bold move, which somehow managed to save their asses.

“I was in that hallway and even I was almost convinced that that kiss was real.” Jane smirks at Tasha and the brunette feels her stomach drop. It was real for her. She got caught up in the moment and let herself go. It was unprofessional, it was dangerous and it is absolutely heartbreaking that Patterson was just pretending. That it was all an act, because at the time it just felt so real. Of course she was putting all she had into it; their lives were on the line.

“Yeah well it was either going to be that or Kazarov bashing our heads in. I thought that was the far better option.” Tasha winks at the blonde and forces out a laugh.

The team all laugh along with her, all of them in high spirits, fuelled by their success. Tasha groans in annoyance when they get outside to their extraction vehicle and Reade drives past in the surveillance van screaming Casanova out the window.

That’s it. She’s going to have to shave his eyebrows in his sleep. In retaliation for the torment she knows will be coming. Damn Patterson and her shiny hair. Reade is never going to let her live this down.


	4. It All Went White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I can't even remember when I last posted a chapter. Hopefully it wasn't that long ago.  
> There was a small fire at my house and I haven't had electricity for two days, this may be a product of that.  
> I don't even know what happened here, hopefully you still enjoy this story.

It’s been three weeks since the team brought down Kazarov and his network. The team have been highly praised for their efficiency and skill in working the operation. They have even received more funding to work on the tattoos and Patterson got two more analysts to help her sort through data. Much to Tasha’s dismay, a job well done does not mean that Reade has faltered in his teasing. If anything, it has egged him on. He finds it endlessly hilarious that all of their recent good fortune has come from Tasha backing Patterson into a wall and sticking her tongue down her throat.

“Good morning, lady killer…” Reade says with a laugh as he follows Tasha onto an empty elevator.

“No! Nope, not today.” Tasha shoves Reade back out of the elevator and presses the button to close the door before he has a chance to get back on.

The brunette can still hear him cackling, through the closed door, as the elevator jolts into motion. She fumes silently as the elevator steadily rises to the 18th floor. It’s been weeks, how is this still funny for him? The door opens up and she strides directly to the one place where she knows Reade isn’t brave enough to tease her.

“Hey what’s up?” Patterson glances towards Tasha, as the brunette storms into her office.

“Just avoiding Reade for a minute. Can I hide out in here?” Tasha asks, frustration lacing her voice.

“Sure, but I don’t think it’s actually hiding when all of the walls are glass.” Patterson states, turning back to her computer to keep working.

“Eh, technicalities.” Tasha says with a shrug.

The elevator doors slide open again with a ding and Reade strides out wearing a shit-eating grin when he spies Tasha glaring at him from Patterson’s office.

Tasha turns her back to him and notices a box sitting on Patterson’s otherwise tidy desk.

“What’s this?” Tasha asks, running a hand across the cardboard and tape.

Patterson looks at the brunette, to see what she is talking about. “It’s just some tech that I need to upgrade my system. One of the assistants brought it up earlier for me.”

Tasha’s interest completely dissipates when she realises that there is nothing special in the box. She looks back over her shoulder and notices Reade talking to Jane and Weller. She sighs and turns back to the boring box. She spins it around to see if anything is written on the other side, but when she jolts it to a stop she hears a loud beep. Patterson looks up, startled.

Before either woman can move or say anything, the box explodes, coating Tasha in a fine white powder. It fills the air like dust and starts settling all over the office. The brunette is frozen in shock and the blonde is scrambling to get her face covered before the powder reaches her. Tasha becomes aware, over the ringing in her ears that an alarm is blaring and emergency lights are flashing. People are screaming and the security walls are starting to slam into place. Tasha knows that there are protocols in place. She should immediately try to get, whatever this is, off of herself. She notices Reade, Jane and Weller running towards her. She thinks they are shouting her name. She looks down at herself and everything is white. Her hair, her clothes, her shoes. Everything, but her hands. Her hands are red and bloody. She lifts them up and blood starts trickling down to her elbows, dripping onto the white, powder coated floor.

She realises too, that there is a gritty feeling in her mouth. She got whatever this is, in her mouth and up her nose. And from the feel, it was a lot of it. She knows that’s bad and that she should be worried, but she is starting to feel lightheaded and she can’t really bring herself to do anything. White starts dotting her vision and she collapses just as the security wall comes down, blocking the team from reaching her.

Patterson crawls out from underneath her desk wearing safety goggles, gloves and a scarf wrapped around her head so that only her eyes can be seen. She is panicking because she saw Tasha get coated in this stuff and it is most likely something dangerous. What else would a mysterious powder, planted in an explosive box, smuggled into an FBI building be? What if it’s anthrax? Fragments of metal and cardboard are strewn across the desk, hidden amongst the powdery coating. Her entire desk is white, except for something at the end. She takes a step closer and realises that it’s a small pool of blood, the crimson stain bright against the white.

Her heart skips a few beats and she rushes around the desk to find Tasha sprawled on the floor. The brunette is absolutely covered in the powder and her hands are bleeding quite badly. Patterson kneels down beside her and, with shaking hands, checks to see if she has a pulse. The blonde lets out a huge sigh of relief when she finds an erratic rhythm beating under her finger tips and she feels that the brunette is still breathing on her own. She attempts to wake the other woman by gently shaking her and calling her name, but no matter what the blonde does, she will not wake up.

Patterson can feel tears starting to pool in her eyes, but before she can panic her computer monitor comes to life. Bethany Mayfair is staring into the room, concern etched into her features.

“Zapata? Patterson? Are you alright? What’s going on in there?” Mayfair asks, authority lacing her tone.

Patterson has no choice but to leave Tasha on the floor. She’s alive and she’s breathing and Patterson has nothing to bind her hands with, so she gets up and moves back to her desk.

“It’s pretty bad. I’m okay, I think. But Tasha is really hurt. She’s unconscious and she’s starting to lose a lot of blood. Her hands are all cut up and there are shards of metal stuck in them. Also I’m pretty sure she ingested whatever the powder is, because she won’t wake up and she is absolutely covered in it.” Patterson reports back, only shedding a few small tears along the way.

Mayfair looks grim “Hold tight Patterson, we’re coming in.”

“But what if it’s not safe?” the blonde asks, ever concerned about everyone else.

“We’ll take that chance.” Mayfair cuts the communication as the security wall raises, revealing a room full of people in HAZMAT suits.

People start rushing into her office and two of the suits drop down next to Tasha and start taking her vitals. Patterson is escorted out to the nearest decontamination shower and told to get in. She showers quickly but thoroughly and is soon changed into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. She is escorted immediately into Mayfair’s office, where medical personnel proceed to take her vitals, blood, saliva samples and the clothes she was wearing earlier. Eventually they get what they need and leave her in the office with Mayfair and Weller, who are still wearing HAZMAT suits and looking grim.

“What’s going on? Is Tasha alright?” Patterson asks fighting back a wave of panic at the state of the building.

“Agent Zapata is currently being transported to a secure medical facility, where she will be quarantined until we find out exactly what she has been exposed to. At the moment her vitals are erratic, but not dangerously so. Reade and Jane are on their way over there now and they will be keeping me up to date on her condition. Unfortunately you will also have to be placed into quarantine until this is over. However, before we do that I have to know what happened in your office today. ” Mayfair takes a seat across from the shaken blonde and watches her take one, two, then three calming breaths.

“I don’t really know. I was prepping the system for an upgrade and Tasha came into my office. There was a box on the desk that one of the new analysts brought up for me. It was supposed to have hard drives and other tech in it, but Tasha moved it and then it just exploded in her face.” The blonde places her shaking hands between her thighs and squeezes them tight, hoping that it will stop the trembling.

Weller takes a step forwards “Patterson, which analyst put the box in your office?”

“Um, his name is Dennis. Dennis… Sokolov. He transferred over from the D.C. office a few weeks ago.”

Weller immediately picks up a walkie and growls “Find me Dennis Sokolov, he’s an analyst, new to the building and currently our main suspect.” With a flurry of affirmative responses Weller strides out the door and leaves Patterson with Mayfair.

Mayfair stands up and motions for the blonde to do the same. “It’s time for you to go. I will walk you down to your transport vehicle.”

“Thanks.” Patterson follows silently after Mayfair until they reach the parking garage. Here she gets into an unassuming black van and after the doors slam shut behind her they speed off.

 

* * *

 

 

She is aware of high pitched beeping noises somewhere around her head. They need to be turned off, because her head is aching like someone tried to put her brain in a blender. Her hands are burning and she can’t move her fingers. She tries to sit up but her arms and legs feel like they are weighted down and even the effort of trying to move makes her feel like throwing up. Her throat is burning and her stomach feels like she was used as a punching bag.  All in all she feels like she was hit by a car.

She lies very still for a few moments and tries to get her bearings. Where is she? There is the obnoxious, persistent beeping, a strong disinfectant smell and a scratchy blanket. Okay probably the hospital, that’s why she hurts so much.

What the hell happened? She remembers being at work and being annoyed at Reade. She remembers talking to Patterson about something and then something exploded. So that’s why she’s in the hospital, she was standing too close to a bomb.

Feeling much calmer about her surroundings, she focuses on trying to open her eyes. It’s a lot of work and as she forces them open she is almost blinded by how bright the room is. She immediately shuts her eyes tight and slowly breathes through the rolling nausea it caused. Alright once more, she opens one eye just a crack and gives it a moment to adjust to the light. Then she opens the other eye just a little bit and waits for it to do the same. Her head is throbbing, but she is determined to see where she is. Little by little she opens her eyes further and she looks around the room. Okay definitely the hospital, thank God for that. She hears a gasp to her left and she lolls her head in that direction.

“Tasha, you’re awake!” Patterson whispers joyfully.

The brunette breathes a sigh of relief and asks the blonde to turn off the lights. At least that’s what she thinks she says. It comes out more like “Plateerrse trin ah glub orff.”

“Don’t try to talk, they had to pump your stomach and the tubes can be harsh on your throat.” The blonde leans forward and offers Tasha a sip of water.

So that’s why she feels like she has a throat full off shattered glass. Patterson helps her sit up a bit and puts the straw between her lips. She takes a few small sips of water and leans back into her pillows. The water has already made her feel a bit better, but the light is still an issue. The blonde seems to pick up on this and gets up to turn the lights off.

“Is that better?” Patterson asks as she retakes her seat at Tasha’s bedside.

“Mmmhmm.” The brunette mumbles as she drifts back off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

“She woke up? How did she seem?” She thinks its Reade’s voice swimming on the edge of her consciousness.

“She wasn’t awake very long and she was pretty out of it.” That’s definitely Patterson.

“How long has she been asleep?” Mayfair is here as well.

“It’s been almost four hours since she woke up.” Patterson again. She likes the sound of the blonde’s voice, it makes her feel calm.

Tasha has trouble staying awake and she is slipping in and out of focus. After what could have been minutes or hours she manages to open her eyes and Reade immediately rushes to her bedside.

“Where’s Patterson?” she grumbles miserably.

“She’s gone to get some food from the cafeteria. She hasn’t left your room since they lifted the quarantine.” Reade says with a relieved smile.

“Quarantine? What the hell happened?” Tasha forces herself to sit up.

Reade helps her sit up and adjusts her pillows. Once he is satisfied that she is as comfortable as can be he settles himself back into the hard plastic hospital chair. “First, how much do you remember?”

She takes a moment and her face scrunches up in concentration. “Something exploded and I was bleeding. Everything went white.”

“There was a box in Patterson’s office that had a small explosive device hidden inside. Your hands were on the box when it went off and the shrapnel shredded your hands.” At the look of horror on Tasha’s face he quickly continues. “Don’t worry, the surgeon is confident that there won’t be any lasting nerve damage and you will regain full use of your hands. There will probably be some scarring though, it wasn’t all clean cuts.”

Tasha looks down at her heavily bandaged hands and takes a fortifying breath to keep herself from tearing up. After a moment of concerned silence from Reade she tells him to continue.

“After the box exploded a white powder was released and it completely covered you and a fair bit of Patterson’s office. Patterson’s fine, don’t worry. Anyway the explosion activated the security walls and it took us a bit to open them back up. By the time we got inside you were already unconscious and had lost a lot of blood. We didn’t know what the powder was so naturally the entire building was locked down and you were brought here in a HAZMAT van. Everyone was pretty concerned, especially when you started vomiting in the van.”

Tasha looks away, embarrassed to have been in that condition in front of her co-workers. A stray tear works its way steadily down her cheek. Reade places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?” At her nod he decides to continue with the story. “You were convulsing when you got here, so they ended up pumping your stomach, because Patterson told Mayfair that you had accidentally ingested some of the powder. It worked, you stopped convulsing and you couldn’t vomit anymore, so they inserted an IV and kept you closely monitored. After that we just had to wait and see if you would wake up, because at that point we still didn’t know what we were dealing with.”

Reade’s voice cracks a bit at that and Tasha takes a closer look at her friend. He looks exhausted, there are dark circles under his eyes and his usually impeccable suit is wrinkled and unbuttoned. He gives her a tired smile and she gives him one in return.

“But you did find out what it was, I’m guessing, from the lack of face masks, gloves and probes.” She attempts to lighten the mood and it seems to work.

Reade cracks a smile, but it fades just as quickly. “Yeah, we did. It was actually a tainted batch of cocaine. It was made to be lethal. Tash we are all so glad you’re alright… I’m so glad you’re alright. I’m sorry for teasing you so much.”

Tasha frees her foot from under the blanket and nudges him with it. “Hey, I’m still here. It’ll take a bit more than that to put me down.”

He grins again “You’re right, now put that away before you accidentally flash an orderly.” He says batting her leg away from him.

“Literally no one would complain about that.” She laughs as she tucks her leg back under the blanket.

“I would.” Kurt grumbles as he makes his way into the room, cradling a cup of coffee.

Tasha and Reade both laugh at the look of horror on Kurt’s face.

“Tasha you’re like my sister, there is not a single cell in my body that is even remotely curious about what’s under that gown.” Kurt frowns in feigned disgust.

Tasha and Reade just laugh harder and Kurt is glad that she is doing so well, so soon after the incident. He plants himself in another chair and takes a deep swallow of his coffee. He sighs happily, relief flooding through him to see Tasha in such high spirits.

When the laughter dies down Reade gets serious again. “Did you catch Sokolov?”

“Who’s Sokolov?” Tasha cuts in before Weller can answer.

“Sokolov is the guy that planted the bomb in Patterson’s office.” Kurt states gruffly. He turns his attention to Reade. “And yes we did. We caught him trying to board a plane back to Russia. Apparently he works for Vitaly Kazarov and was planted in our office to take revenge for arresting his boss. He’s an idiot that doesn’t know how to follow instructions very well, because we found the formula for the bomb he was supposed to make. If he had done it right it would have taken out the entire building.”

The tense silence that forms after that information is broken by Patterson bursting through the door. “Why didn’t you guys tell me she was awake. I would have come straight back up.”

Reade and Weller both glance nervously at each other, but don’t say anything.

“They were catching me up.” Tasha says once she realises both of the boys are being cowards in the face of Patterson’s wrath.

The blonde is so relieved that Tasha is okay that she is almost shaking in excitement. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better, but you know, it could have been worse.” She grins at her friends, happy that everything is going to be alright.

 

* * *

 

 

After a week of close monitoring at the hospital Tasha receives the news that she has been waiting for. They are letting her go home, but there is a condition. Of course there is. She needs someone to help her at home, because she still can’t fully use her hands. They won’t let her go if she doesn’t have someone to keep an eye on her.

She didn’t let on how disappointed this made her. She doesn’t think she could ask that of anyone. She doesn’t want to be a burden to any of her very few friends.

She is sitting on her bed, depressed at the thought of spending even more time trapped in this bland room when Patterson comes in, with a wide grin on her face.

“Get up Tasha we’re getting out of here.” She says as she starts packing the brunette’s things into a bag.

Tasha sits on the bed confused by the blonde’s words and her excitement. “Going where?”

“Home! Well, my home. The doctors are releasing you into my care. I’ve been working from home anyway, since I don’t have an office right now, so it’s perfect.” The blonde is absolutely buzzing.

“What?” Tasha is floored by the blonde’s generosity.

Patterson takes her lack of an enthusiastic response as disappointment. “I’m sorry. I should have thought before I talked them into letting you come with me. You don’t want to stay with me.” She completely deflates and sits the bag on the floor.

“Hey that’s not true. I am so stoked to be getting out of here. It just took me a minute to process what you were saying.” Tasha tries desperately to cheer up the blonde.

“You sure?” Patterson asks still not completely convinced that the brunette is telling the truth.

“Definitely. Is that bag packed?” Tasha gets off the bed and pulls on a jacket.

Patterson nods her head.

“Then let’s go.” Tasha walks to the door and looks back at the blonde.

“Really!” Patterson visibly brightens again and skips over to the door with Tasha’s bag.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” The brunette smiles as the blonde gently hugs her, making sure not to press on any of her still sore bits. Patterson very carefully takes her by the arm and leads her to the front desk to sort out the paperwork to release Tasha.

“This is going to be so much fun.” Patterson grins when they finally release Tasha. “I can’t wait.”


	5. Getting Back to Normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out. I had planned for this to be done way sooner but my uncle passed away and my entire extended family has come to town for the funeral, so I haven't had any free time to work on it for days. But I got there eventually. Thank you to everyone that is sticking with this story, all of your comments make my day :)

Tasha was in the hospital long enough that the superficial cuts on her hands and arms healed enough to have the stitches removed, but some of the metal cut deep and it has caused weakness and pain in her fingers. The doctors have assured her that it is still early days and that they are confident that she will regain full use of her hands and the pain will eventually completely go away. So for now she is staying with Patterson, in the blonde’s spare room because she can’t look after herself very well.

Patterson is a very considerate host. She is constantly asking Tasha if she is hungry, or thirsty, or bored, or tired, or sore and she does appreciate her concern but it is starting to get on her nerves that the blonde is hovering so much. It is really sweet and Tasha is secretly revelling in having so much of the woman’s attention, but on the other hand her anxiety is skyrocketing at having her so close all of the time.  The brunette is almost positive that Patterson is starting to notice how much she has been staring at her, so she is determined to get her mind off the blonde and do something productive today. This is her third day at Patterson’s house and she is starting to feel incredibly cooped up.

She gets out of bed and rummages around in the cupboard until she finds her long running tights and a loose singlet. It takes her three attempts to get her bra on because of the weakness in her fingers, but she eventually wins that battle. She throws on the singlet and pulls on some underwear and her tights, and then she sits on the edge of the bed and struggles on some socks. She doesn’t realise until she has them on but the socks don’t match. Fuck it, they’re on and she is not wasting time fixing it. The shoes are a monster on their own, she gets her feet in them, but she can’t get the laces to cooperate. She is near tears when she finally manages to get them tied up. She does some stretches in her room to loosen herself out a bit. When she is feeling warm enough she grabs her iPod and tucks it into her pocket. She walks out into the lounge room and Patterson is nowhere in sight, she stops for a moment and hears the shower running. That’s probably a good thing; the blonde will only lecture her about how she shouldn’t be pushing herself just yet anyway. Tasha snags a piece of paper and a pen and leaves a note on the table next to all of Patterson’s work stuff to let her know where she is going.

Tasha gently closes the front door behind her and puts her headphones in her ears. She cranks up a playlist and starts jogging down the footpath. Every step feels like a victory, like she is finally getting back to normal after all of the shit that has happened in the last few weeks. She picks up her pace and pays attention to the burn in her lungs and the push and pull of her muscles working.

Tasha runs until she can’t breathe, until her thighs are screaming at her to stop, until she feels like she is about to vomit. She doesn’t care, she feels alive and while everything else hurts it takes her mind off how her hands are currently failing her. She turns around and alternates between walking and jogging back to Patterson’s house. By the time she turns back onto Patterson’s street she has realised that she pushed herself too hard, too soon because she is feeling dizzy and nauseous and Patterson is going to be pissed.

She struggles herself up the few steps to get to the door and just stands there panting and cursing herself for how out of condition she feels. She has barely knocked on the door when it is wrenched open from the inside by a furious looking Patterson. Tasha gulps and braces herself for yelling, but it doesn’t come. She looks up and Patterson just looks sad. This is so much worse than yelling; Tasha absolutely hates herself for upsetting the blonde.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was?” Patterson holds up a hand to stop Tasha from responding. “You have been gone for over an hour and you left a note that said ‘gone for a run’ with no information on where exactly you were going and how long you planned on being gone. I was freaking out. What if something happened to you? What if you got hurt again? You know that you are supposed to limit physical activity until you are on lower grade painkillers.”

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to go outside for a while. I didn’t think I would be gone for so long.” Tasha is genuinely apologetic, but Patterson is still clearly upset.

“Tasha you are supposed to be resting! You shouldn’t have gone at all!” And there’s the yelling. Patterson has finally settled on an emotion and it seems to be angry.

“It’s my life and my body and I just wanted to go for a run! I wanted to feel like myself again!” Tasha shoves past the blonde and starts heading towards the bathroom to have a shower, angry at Patterson for calling her out on her stupid behaviour.

The brunette stops dead in her tracks when she hears a sniffle. Oh fuck. No, she is imagining things. She did not just make the most amazing person to walk the earth cry. She very slowly turns around and her heart feels like it is going to fall out. Patterson is leaning against the, now closed, door trying in vain to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. That roiling nauseous feeling in the pit of Tasha’s stomach makes a sudden comeback and she stands stock still in fear. She made the blonde cry in her own home when all she wanted to do was help. Tasha feels like an utter bitch and she has no idea how to proceed from here. Does she go over there and hug her and make promises about everything being okay? Or does she pretend she hasn’t heard the woman crying and go and take her shower? Or does she ignore the shower completely and go pack a bag and leave? Probably the second choice, which seems like the safest option right now. Bail and pretend this never happened. Yeah, she is pretty happy with that choice.

Before Tasha can even turn to leave Patterson’s teary voice draws her attention back to the doorway. “Tasha you almost died. And I just stood there and I couldn’t help you. You were hurt and bleeding and I couldn’t do anything. It scared the shit out of me. But I can help you now and you don’t even want that and I don’t know what to do.”

Patterson is full on crying now and Tasha is exhausted, hurting, sick and she just feels so guilty for ever making Patterson feel shit about anything. She walks back over and hesitantly wraps the blonde up in her arms and the blonde just cries harder.

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice cracks and all of this takes its toll on the brunette so she breaks down too and they stand in Patterson’s doorway crying and shaking and holding each other up. After what could have been minutes or hours and the tears have finally dried up Patterson starts giggling and it makes Tasha feel almost whole again. Soon the giggles turn into loud laughter and the brunette can’t help but join in.

Patterson gently shoves the shorter woman away and says “Tash, you need to go have a shower, you kind of stink.”

“Excuse me?” Tasha frowns, mock offended, but secretly pleased that the moment of weirdness has passed.

“You heard me, now get going. I’ll make you some breakfast.” The blonde grins, wipes away a few stray tears and walks into the kitchen.

Tasha heads off to the bathroom when she hears things being rattled around in the kitchen. She shuts the door and cringes when she sees the state of herself in the mirror. She is pale, her sweaty hair is stuck to her forehead and her eyes are red and puffy from crying. Lovely. She cranks up the hot water and kicks off her shoes. She quickly strips off the rest of her clothes and checks the water temperature with her hand. Satisfied that it is at the right temperature she hops in under the spray and lets out a small sigh of relief. Her aching muscles are relaxing and she lathers herself up with soap trying to massage the soreness out of her thighs a bit. She will probably regret the run later but right now she is feeling pretty good. She grabs the shampoo bottle and flips the cap open. She tries to squeeze some shampoo onto her palm, but her hand goes weak and she drops the near full bottle onto the tiles and the cap breaks off and shampoo goes absolutely everywhere. Tasha groans in annoyance and leans down to pick up the bottle, but her foot slides out in all of the soap and she comes crashing to the ground.

Tasha lands face first on the tile floor because she instinctively tried to protect her sore hands. Now she has a face full of shampoo and the left side of her face is throbbing in agony. She pushes herself into a sitting position against the wall, the hot spray of water cascading down onto her legs. She tries to keep from moving too much as she assesses what new hurts she can feel. Her face is pulsing, angry and painful. Her right elbow already has a huge lump forming and it is almost torturous to touch. Her left hip also landed quite heavily on the tiles and it’s possible she twisted her ankle. She tries to open her eyes but the shampoo burns them and she quickly shuts them again and wills the stinging to stop.

Tasha is taking slow, deep breaths to try and block out the pain radiating through her body when the door comes flying open and Patterson gasps in horror.

“Tasha are you okay?! I heard the crash and you’re bleeding. Tasha you’re bleeding!” The blonde shuts off the taps and grabs a towel before kneeling down next to the brunette.

“I’m also pretty damn naked.” Tasha attempts a joke to lighten the mood, but her eyes are still scrunched tightly shut and she has started shivering so the effect is dramatically lessened.

Patterson blushes furiously as she becomes aware of the other woman’s nakedness. In her worry it hadn’t even registered and now she is awkwardly fumbling to cover her friend over with the towel. Once she is satisfied that Tasha is sufficiently covered the blonde slowly helps her get to her feet, concerned that the other woman won’t open her eyes. Tasha lets out a small hiss of pain as she attempts to put pressure on her ankle and quickly leans so all of her weight is being supported by her uninjured side. Patterson focusses her attention on the Latina’s nose, which is currently the source of a steady stream of blood trailing down the brunette’s face. The blonde gently prods around the affected area and lets out a sigh of relief as she realises that nothing is broken, even though there is already a dark, angry bruise starting to form under Tasha’s eye.

“Is it bad?” the brunette timidly asks clutching her towel to her chest, with her eyes still held firmly closed.

“It looks worse than what it is. I promise.” The blonde moves her hands to Tasha’s sides to help support her balance over the still precarious floor. “Tash, can you look at me please?”

The brunette lets out a small huff of laughter and grimaces. “Not really, your hellfire hair products have blinded me.”

“Will you let me help you?” At the brunette’s gentle nod, Patterson gently manoeuvres them both so she can restart the shower without blasting Tasha with the water. Once she is satisfied that the bleeding has stopped and the water is a comfortable temperature she wordlessly guides her under the spray, towel and all. The brunette stands under the cascading water, with the blonde’s steady hands holding her, until the shampoo and blood has been rinsed away and she can open her eyes again. She blinks a few times to refocus her vision and offers a grateful smile to the blonde.

“Thank you. For everything you’ve done for me. I do appreciate it.” Tasha pulls Patterson into a tight hug, absolutely soaking the front of the blonde with the towel.

Patterson breaks the hug and laughs at the state of herself, causing the brunette to break out in laughter as well. ”Well now that I’m soaking wet I suppose I should help you wash your hair, since apparently you’re still a danger to yourself. Turn around.”

Tasha begrudgingly follows her orders and faces the wall so that Patterson can reach her hair. She feels kind of ridiculous. No one has washed her hair for her since her mother did it when she was a child. She forces herself to stand still as the blonde picks up the bottle of shampoo off the floor and squeezes a generous amount onto her hand. Even though she knows it is coming Tasha is unprepared for Patterson’s fingers lightly scratching across her scalp. It feels nice, really nice. She lets her head fall back so that the blonde has easier access to all of her hair and she lets herself relax under the consistent pressure of the blonde’s hands. Her fingers are starting to burn from the weight of the wet towel and she only considers for a moment before she lets it fall away. She shakes out her hands, trying to get the blood circulating through them properly. She follows Patterson’s instructions as the blonde guides her head back under the cascading water to rinse out the soap and silently lets the blonde run the conditioner through her long, dark hair.

She is struck suddenly by how intimate this is and internally curses herself for the thoughts that suddenly overtake her mind. She imagines Patterson pressing against her back and wrapping her arms around her. The blonde’s fingers gently trailing from her hips, over her stomach to grasp her breasts, then back down again towards her centre. Tasha involuntarily shivers with arousal as Patterson guides her head under the water for the last time, both relieved and disappointed that this torturous experience is almost over.

“Are you cold?” Patterson asks, concerned for the brunette’s health. The blonde is valiantly trying to keep her eyes from wandering down the other woman’s sculpted back towards her firm, curved backside again. It has been a monumental challenge ever since the brunette dropped her towel. She couldn’t help but stare at the gorgeous, golden skin that was exposed to her, desperate to touch but more afraid of the repercussions if she did.

“Yeah, a bit.” Tasha is mortified that the blonde noticed her body’s reaction to her touch. She stands resolutely as the woman rushes to get her a dry towel, refusing to turn away from the wall in case she notices how hard her nipples have gotten. She steadfastly ignores the ache between her thighs and graciously accepts the towel that the blonde comes back with. She quickly wraps the material around her body before turning to face the other woman, hoping that the blonde remains oblivious to her more than friendly feelings.

“Is that better?” Patterson gently runs her thumbs over the Tasha’s beautiful tan cheeks, carefully avoiding the bruise blossoming under her left eye.

“Yeah.” Tasha offers the blonde a weak smile, her heart racing at their close proximity. Patterson’s gaze travels from her eyes down to her lips and for a wild second Tasha thinks that the blonde might kiss her, but almost as soon as the thought registers the blonde takes a step back, removing her hands and her warmth from Tasha’s space.

“Okay, good I’ll leave you to it then. Just yell if you need me.” And just like that Patterson is gone and Tasha is left confused as hell, turned on and sore for all the wrong reasons.

Well this is just fucking excellent. Tasha groans and goes to her room to get dressed. This whole situation is just fucking fantastic.


	6. What Are Friends For?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long to get done. Work has been kicking my ass. Enjoy!

 

Patterson’s office is finally fully repaired and the blonde woman will be returning to full-time work at the office again on Monday. This means that Tasha will also be returning to her own home on Monday. She has an appointment with her specialist in the morning and if all goes well she should be returning to work soon too. It is a Thursday afternoon and because both Patterson and Tasha haven’t been at office the team have been working a very light amount of cases. They closed a case around lunch time and came over to celebrate having the rest of the day off. After an intense and closely fought battle of Monopoly, where Kurt eventually came out on top, they are now taking turns playing Mario Kart in Patterson’s living room.

Reade and Jane are sitting on the floor with their backs rested against the front of the couch, deep in concentration and trying to blow each other off the track. Kurt is comfortably reclined in the armchair with a satisfied grin on his face, secretly hoping that Jane wipes the floor with Reade. Patterson is sitting on one end of the couch slowly sipping on a cup of tea, with Tasha’s bare feet sprawled across her lap. Tasha is leaning against a stack of pillows at the other end of the couch comfortably stretched out and munching from a bowl of fruit.

Jane’s Yoshi and Reade’s Princess Peach are racing neck and neck around the track, they round the last corner with Reade in the lead. The only thing Jane has left in her arsenal is a green shell, so Tasha decides to help her out. The brunette grabs one of the pillows out from behind her back and swings it into the side of Reade’s head as Jane fires her shell. The move works and Jane crosses the finish line in first place to a room full of cheers and booing from Reade.

Reade is laughing while he stares down the two smirking brunettes. “I see how it is. This is some sort of sisterhood support thing isn’t it?”

“No, that was just Jane proving her superiority at Mario Kart. Everyone knows that the obstacles you have to dodge aren’t only in the game.” Tasha grins victoriously as Reade hands her his controller.

“You and I grew up very differently Zapata.” Reade says with a smile and a shake of his head.

“Yep, I grew up classy.” She states as she swings her legs around to plant her feet on the floor.

The countdown ends and their characters take off. Tasha is focussed intently on the game and barely registers when Patterson gets up and Reade takes her place. She is dodging a minefield of flying green shells when she hears a bone chilling scream come from the back of the house. All four agents in the room leap to their feet in terror, the game completely forgotten in the face of a potential threat, Kurt is yelling out Patterson’s name. 

Tasha’s heart is in her throat and she vaults over the back of the couch to get to the blonde faster. Before any of them make it out of the room Patterson comes running in looking utterly terrified.

“Patterson, what’s happening?” Kurt is in full on agent mode as the blonde skids to a stop to hide behind Reade, who is brandishing a chair as a weapon.

The blonde fearfully peeks out from behind Reade, who is still holding the chair, and glances nervously around the room. “There’s a spider.” She whispers.

“Wait, what?” Kurt asks, disbelief lacing his voice, his stance relaxing immediately.

“There’s a spider in my room.” Patterson says again, louder this time.

“That’s it? There’s no one back there trying to kill you or anything?” Reade finally drops the chair back to the floor and looks at the blonde in confusion.

“Yes, that’s it! I’ve never told anyone but spiders really freak me out. They are sneaky and awful and there’s one in my house.” The blonde states embarrassed in front of her co-workers.

No one moves an inch and Tasha notices that the blonde looks on the verge of tears and she absolutely will not have that. “It’s alright. The boys will go and get it for you.” She glares at Reade and Weller in turn and they both hustle out of the room to catch the trespassing spider.

Tasha and Jane guide the blonde into the kitchen and get her a glass of water. The two brunettes look on in concern as Patterson sits down at the kitchen table sweaty and shaking.

“What if they don’t find it?” Patterson says fearfully. “Or worse, what if it had babies? There could be thousands of the little demons in here right now. Oh no! I’m going to have to move.”

Tasha and Jane share a look of alarm and the tattooed woman bounds out of the room to help the guys locate the spider. Tasha takes a seat at the table next to Patterson and gently takes a hold of the blonde’s trembling hand. They sit in silence for a few moments listening to their team in the other room rustling around, hunting for the offending prey. Tasha is starting to zone out, distracted and relaxed by the warmth of the blonde’s hand in hers. She is softly running her thumb back and forth over Patterson’s hand and she is relieved to notice that the trembling has almost disappeared.

“Thank you.” The blonde whispers, breaking the silent spell hovering in the kitchen.

“For what?” Tasha asks in confusion.

“For not making fun of me. I know it’s stupid and irrational to be scared of something like spiders, but I can’t help it.” The blonde is steadfastly avoiding eye contact with the other woman.

“You’re one of the bravest people I know. Honestly, it’s kind of nice to know you’re human.” Tasha grins in triumph as the blonde lets out a small laugh.

Before Tasha can say another word Reade strides into the kitchen holding up the dead spider victoriously and Patterson squeals again in fear. He drops the spider on to the table as Kurt and Jane walk in behind him. Patterson jumps up and grabs a frying pan off the sink and starts bashing the dead spider with it. She hits it over and over and over again, until there is nothing left but a brown smear on the table and what Tasha thinks is a dent.

“I had to make sure it was really dead.” Patterson says to the room of stunned agents.

Breaking out of her silent stupor, Tasha hops up and wets a cloth in the sink to clean off the table. At her movement everyone else seems to jolt back into motion. Patterson drops the pan into the sink and thanks everyone for helping to catch the spider.

Kurt checks the time on his phone and runs a hand tiredly through his close-cropped hair. “Alright I’m going to get going. I have to go pick up Sawyer from practice.”

“Do you mind if I catch a ride?” Jane asks as she pulls on her jacket.

“Sure, no problem.” Kurt responds as he pulls out his keys and they both head to the front door with everyone calling out their goodbyes.

“I should probably get going too.” Reade says with a sigh.

“Or you can stay and get your ass beat at Mario Kart.” Tasha states, the challenge burning behind her eyes.

Never one to back down from his partner he smirks at her. “Fine, but don’t go crying when I crush you.”

The brunette cackles loudly “Oh it’s on, but the only one crying when this is all over, is you.”

Tasha gives Reade a shove as she struts past him, back towards the lounge room and the console. He laughs as he turns around to follow her and the blonde just shakes her head at their antics.

“Hey, how about you keep this a friendly competition and don’t make each other cry at all.” Patterson shouts at them from the kitchen.

“Yes Mom!” The blonde laughs out loud when she receives their response in unison from the other room.

 

* * *

 

  

Tasha is in bed, cocooned within a pile of blankets and almost asleep when she becomes aware of someone standing in the doorway. She can hear Reade’s steady snores coming from the lounge room, where he is passed out on the couch, so she knows it’s not him. She sits up quickly and flicks on the light to see Patterson looking at her guiltily. She rubs her hands over her face to try and wake herself up a bit and the blonde stands in the doorway wringing her hands nervously.

“What’s wrong Patterson?” the brunette asks, sleep lacing her voice.

The blonde glances back into the darkness behind her and seems to come to a decision. “I can’t sleep.”

“Is it Reade’s snoring? Because I can go smother him with a pillow or punch him or something.” Tasha leans back against the headboard wearing a smirk.

“No it’s not that. I keep thinking that I can see spiders in the shadows in my room and it’s really freaking me out.” The blonde whispers and Tasha has to strain to hear her.

“Get in then.” The brunette states as she slides back down into the warmth of her blankets.

“What?” Patterson is sure she misheard the beautiful woman.

“Patterson get your ass in this bed because I am sleepy and I refuse to get up and clear your room at this hour.” Tasha flings back the blankets on the other side of the bed and watches as the blonde delicately settles herself in. Tasha finds it endlessly endearing that Patterson is wearing a baby blue set of pyjamas with little white rabbits on them.

Patterson quickly nods off in the warmth of the bed, but Tasha is suddenly hyper aware that she is only wearing a t-shirt and a pair of black boy shorts. She is too tired to actually get up and find a pair of pants to put on though so she just hopes that she will wake up first in the morning and the blonde will never have to know. The brunette is just about to fall asleep again when Patterson starts tossing and turning. She groans in annoyance when the blonde won’t stop moving and in a desperate attempt to get some sleep she shuffles over so she can spoon into Patterson’s back. The blonde woman stills immediately and Tasha sighs in relief as she throws an arm loosely over Patterson’s waist. Listening to the blonde’s steady breathing and feeling the constant rise and fall of her ribs quickly sends Tasha into a deep, dreamless sleep.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Tasha is dragged back into semi-consciousness in the early hours of the morning because her arm is completely asleep. She takes a minute to register her surroundings without actually opening her eyes. At some point in the night Patterson has turned around and her face is currently buried into Tasha’s chest. She can feel the blonde’s steady, even breaths across her collarbone indicating that Patterson is still very asleep. Their legs are tangled together and they both have their arms thrown over each other in a loose embrace. The brunette’s eyes shoot wide open when Patterson twitches in her sleep and Tasha realises exactly where the blonde’s hands are located. She has one hand tucked up between their bodies and it is resting gently against Tasha’s breast. The only thing separating them from skin to skin contact is the thin material of the shirt the brunette is wearing. Her other hand is lying on Tasha’s hip, with her fingertips gripping the leg band of the brunette’s underwear.

Tasha is suddenly far too hot and she carefully tries to extract herself from Patterson’s embrace. The blonde proves to be a light sleeper and as soon as she lifts her own arm from Patterson’s waist, she wakes up.

“Morning Tash.” The blonde mumbles and lets out a little yawn.

“Morning.” Tasha whispers in response, praying to every deity she can think of that Patterson won’t notice her nipple suddenly standing to attention under her palm.

Clearly her prayers go unanswered when suddenly Patterson tears her hands away and rolls over, attempting to hide the blush furiously making its way up her pale cheeks.

“I’m so sorry.” Tasha stammers as she rolls completely out of bed and stands up preparing to make a break for the bathroom.

Patterson squeaks in surprise when the brunette removes the blankets revealing her long, golden legs and nothing but a pair of boy shorts and a thin t-shirt. Tasha realises that Patterson is staring at her exposed legs and she believes that she has embarrassed the blonde so she nearly runs from the room in shame.

Tasha races down the hall towards the bathroom and crashes straight into Reade as he is walking out, the force of the collision causing her to fall onto her backside. The tall man is wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and a smile. He laughs and helps her up, choosing to ignore the blush dusting her cheeks.

“Nice pyjamas Zapata.” He says with a wink and a loud wolf whistle.

She shoves him out of the way, so she can get into the bathroom. “Yeah, I could say the same thing about you. Glad to see tighty whities aren’t the only underwear you own.”

“Hey we promised to never talk about that again!” he shouts as she shuts the door in his face.

He waits a moment for a response but hearing only silence he makes his way to the kitchen cheerfully in search of some breakfast.

Tasha is sitting on the edge of the bathtub, her head resting in her hands, silently cursing herself for her inability to keep her shit together around the blonde. She breathes steadily, willing her heart rate to slow back down. Since she’s already in the bathroom, she decides to have a quick shower. The warm water helps to balance her back out and her thoughts become much more rational as she calms down. Once she is thoroughly cleaned, she turns off the shower and grabs a towel, bracing herself for the run back to her room. She opens the door enough to peek her head out and she hears voices coming from the kitchen, which means the coast is clear. Holding the towel close against her body, she makes the quick dash to her room and gets dressed.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha wants to clear the air and talk to Patterson, so she is pretty disappointed when she walks into the kitchen only to find Reade, now fully dressed and sipping a coffee, with the blonde nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Patterson?” she asks as nonchalantly as possible.

“She’s already left for work. She asked me to drive you to your appointment.” Reade states as he places his now empty cup in the dishwasher.

“Oh.” Tasha tries not to sound too disappointed as she collects what she’ll need for the day.

Reade however has picked up on a ridiculous amount of awkwardness from both of the women this morning and he is desperate to understand what the hell is going on. “What’s up Tasha?”

“It’s nothing.” She sighs, hoping that he’ll drop it.

He doesn’t. “Oh, it’s something. You and Patterson were both weird as hell today and I’m not an idiot you know.” He folds his arms across his chest and attempts to stare down the steely brunette.

Tasha glares at him in response and doesn’t say a word.

After a few tense moments of silence Reade breaks and throws up his hands in confusion. “Are you guys fighting?”

“We’re not fighting.” Tasha turns and strides towards the door, with Reade following closely behind.

“Then tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”He follows her out the door and waits patiently as she locks it.

“I highly doubt that.” She scoffs and shoves past him.

He regains his balance and jumps down the steps after her. “Well, unless you tell me, we’ll never know.”

He gives her a pointed look and she just rolls her eyes at him and gets in the car. Tasha sits silently and utterly still for almost the entire ride to the doctor’s office. Reade drives cautiously, concerned about his friend and tries to think of something to say that might get Tasha to talk to him. When she finally says something, it startles him so much that he almost crashes into the car ahead of them.

“What?” he says, his heart still beating rapidly from their near miss.

“You can’t drive for shit. You know that right.” Her voice all snark and forced laughter.

He shakes his head at her avoidance tactics. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.” She says quietly.

“Then tell me. It’s not good to keep shit bottled up and if you’re not going to tell me, then tell someone.” He says, fully focussed on the road.

She studies his profile for a few moments, internally debating whether she should share what’s going on in her head. She has been feeling utterly miserable dealing with it by herself and Reade is one of the few people that she trusts completely. Decision made, she lets out a sigh of resignation. “You promise not to laugh or tease me?”

“Of course.” He glances at her to offer a small, genuine smile and then snaps his eyes back to the road.

“I like Patterson.” She breathes out.

“Yeah I like her too, she’s awesome.” He agrees, confused about where this conversation is going.

“No, I mean I _like_ her.” She says again, louder this time, really emphasising her words.

“Okay…” It only takes a few seconds after she has repeated herself for him to register what she is trying to tell him. He swerves the car slightly as he jerks his head around to look at her. “Oh, OH! Oh damn.”

He wheels the car into the driveway for the doctor’s office, which he almost drove straight past. A horn is blaring behind them and Reade swears. Tasha is jerked violently into the window and her seatbelt tightens painfully across her chest as the car lurches to a stop.

“Jesus! Do I need to drive?” she glares at him while rubbing the sore spot on her sternum.

“You like Patterson!” he screeches as he grabs her closest hand and gives it a squeeze. “So many things make sense now.”

“Please don’t make a big deal out of this. It’s just a crush and nothing is going to happen.” She hops out of the car and shoots him a pleading look.

“Hey I promise I can be chill about this.” He gives her a giant smile and wink.

She slams the car door and strides off towards the waiting room. That was probably a mistake. If Reade does anything, she’s going to have to mutilate him. Or trash his apartment. Hopefully this asshole doctor lets her go back to work and she can focus on something other than her pathetic love life. This will all blow over and everything can go back to normal.


	7. You, Me and Baby Makes...

It’s been three long, torturous days since Tasha was cleared for duty. The doctor was impressed by how quickly she had regained full use of her hands and there have been no lingering side-effects so he sent her straight back to work. Reade was ecstatic and helped Tasha move back into her place before they went into the office that day. They were all thrown immediately into a massive case and she has barely seen Patterson at all, let alone had time to talk to her. Tasha feels incredibly awkward about everything that happened and she has decided that as soon as she gets enough time she is going to tell Patterson everything. She is going to tell her that the reason she has been so weird around her is because of her attraction and that she’s so, so sorry that she never said anything sooner. Reade is pretty confident that the blonde will take it well but Tasha mostly just feels like throwing up every single time she thinks about it.

Tasha is pulled from her thoughts by Weller talking tactics as they drive to the house they are about to raid. The house is owned by Garth and Nora Brooks and the team believe that they are targets for an assassination attempt. The plan is to enter in two teams, Jane and Weller through the front door and Reade and Zapata through the rear. They will systematically clear the large house from bottom to top and hopefully they find the family safe and unharmed. They want to get them to a safehouse so they can track down the men planning the attack without having to worry about the family’s safety. They all check and clear their weapons for the last time as they drive up to the front of the house. Weller kills the engine and they all climb out and hold their guns to the ready. Everything seems quiet and they all look to Weller awaiting orders.

“Now remember the Brooks’ have a six month old son and we definitely can’t have the baby being held as leverage. Cover the parents but we have to find the baby.” He stares each of them down and when he is satisfied that they are as prepared as can be he gives the order to move.

They break into a run and are quickly in position by their respective doors. On Weller’s mark Reade kicks in the door and Zapata strides in, gun raised and begins clearing the room. Reade is right behind her and they clear room to room until they meet Weller and Jane at the foot of the stairs. The house is eerily still but there is a baby screaming upstairs and Jane silently indicates behind her to show Zapata and Reade evidence of a struggle. Tasha takes a deep breath and readies herself to storm up the stairs, it’s obvious that they are too late, but they have no idea what they are going to find up there.

On Weller’s command, they run up the stairs, guns still at the ready and split into their respective teams at the landing. Jane and Weller move right and Reade and Zapata go left. The baby is obviously at the end that Reade and Zapata are moving towards but they don’t skip any rooms. They are on high alert as they reach the last room on the landing. The screaming is very loud now and Tasha stands back and slightly to the side as Reade quickly swings the door open. She rushes in and clears the room as Reade checks the closet. Tasha nods at Reade, satisfied that their end is empty and he loudly calls out “Clear!”

Tasha lowers her rifle to her side and lets the strap support it as she moves over to the crib and picks up the crying child. Reade stands tense at the door until he hears Weller shout from the other end of the house that they are also clear. Tasha gently rocks the baby and as he starts to settle his loud cries transform into sad hiccoughs. His little fists grab at her bullet proof vest and he valiantly attempts to hold onto Tasha for support. Weller and Jane quickly meet them in the nursey for an update. They both soften a little bit at the sight of the teary, little boy clinging desperately to Tasha.

“This wasn’t an assassination attempt.” Weller waves a scrap of paper in his fist. “The parents are the hostages. These guys want a million dollar payout to send them back.”

“The FBI doesn’t negotiate under those conditions. Surely they know that.” Reade states, slightly stunned at the audacity of this group.

“The note isn’t for us. It’s for Garth Brooks’ father Robert.” Weller says darkly.

“Wait, you mean the Robert Brooks that owns the biggest law firm in New York?” Tasha says quietly, hoping to keep the little boy settled in her arms.

“That’s the one.” Weller nods in affirmation.

“Damn, that guy has a reputation for being vicious. These guys are either really brave or really stupid to go after his family.” Reade shakes his head and makes his way to the door.

“We should grab some stuff for this little guy and head back to the office to fill in Mayfair.” Jane says as she moves to the dresser and starts packing clothes and diapers for the baby.

Weller agrees and grabs a few armfuls of formula and bottles and pacifiers. He quickly assesses the contents of the bag and throws in a few more handfuls of clothes.

“Trust me, when Sawyer was a baby he went through at least three outfits a day.” Kurt says looking grim.

Jane looks at him with wide eyes and grabs a few more outfits and jams them into the near overflowing bag. “Just in case.” She shrugs and walks over to meet Reade at the door.

Kurt laughs as he hefts the strap of the bag over his shoulder and waits for Tasha to pick up the boy’s blanket and drape it over his tiny frame.

“You good to go?” he asks, concerned for the tiny child resting in his friend’s arms.

“Yeah, I think the poor little guy is exhausted because he’s almost asleep.” Tasha shifts him minutely in her arms to make them both more comfortable and starts the walk with her team back to the car.

Once they reach the car Weller throws the bag and his rifle in the trunk, so that he can hold the baby while Tasha gets in the car. As soon as the baby is transferred into Weller’s arms he starts screaming at the top of his lungs and as much as Kurt tries the boy will not calm down. If possible, the screaming gets louder and louder. Jane, having relieved herself of her weapons, takes the little boy off Kurt and tries to soothe him, but the wailing continues completely unbroken. Completely out of her element, she hands the baby off to Reade and he continues to scream and cry and his face is starting to turn a ridiculously dark shade of red. Tasha stores her weapons and removes her vest before settling herself in the car and holds out her hands to take the baby back. Reade is immensely relieved and immediately hands him over. Tasha settles the boy into her arms and he instantly stops crying. Weller, Jane and Reade all look at her in shock and she just shrugs in confusion. The little boy grabs hold of her shirt and snuggles against her chest, seemingly asleep already. Reade climbs into the back beside her while Jane and Weller hop in the front.

“What’s this little guy’s name?” Reade asks in a near whisper, absolutely terrified of the potential screaming inside the car.

“It’s Nathan.” Jane whispers, staring at the little boy asleep in Tasha’s arms.

“We’ve got you. You’re safe now little one.” Tasha breathes into the baby’s hair as Weller starts up the car and they head back to the office to check in.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha is sitting on the floor in Doctor Borden’s office, cradling the sleeping baby in her arms. The team have already checked in with Mayfair and are currently running down some possible leads. Tasha is still looking after Nathan because, for whatever reason, the little boy screams bloody murder if she attempts to put him down. There is no-one else that he will allow to hold him, or even touch him and Tasha is utterly baffled that he is comfortable with her.

Doctor Borden himself is sitting on the floor with her, resting against the wall about an arm’s length away. He is silently watching her and the baby, waiting for Tasha to say something. This is the first time since she’s been back to work that she’s had time to check in with him about the accident. She still doesn’t remember much of anything that happened, so she isn’t really sure what she is supposed to talk about. Apparently Borden isn’t content to just sit in silence for the remainder of her session, so he asks her an easy question.

“Have your hands been giving you any trouble since you’ve been back?” he speaks gently, mindful of the sleeping child sprawled in her lap.

“No, aside from the few scars you can see, there is no difference to how they were before. The doctor was really happy with how well they healed.” She softly traces the angry, red lines scattered over her palms and attempts to ignore the way he is looking at her. Like she is something fragile.

“Do the scars bother you?” he turns to face the room at large, attempting to give her some space, but he watches her for a reaction out of the corner of his eye.

“I don’t think so…” she notices his eyebrow raise in a silent question. “I mean, I’m not worried about if they are unattractive or anything like that. If people are pathetic enough to judge me based on some scars I wouldn’t even waste my time talking to them.”

“But there is something…” he prods, wanting her to continue her train of thought.

“It’s more that they are a reminder that we aren’t infallible. Someone got to us and the only reason that I didn’t die was sheer luck. It could have been anyone on the team and I guess it frightens me, being reminded of our mortality. We go out there every day and every day we could die. I just don’t want to see any of my friends die.” She sighs and shifts her hold on the baby so she can face Borden properly. She is satisfied to notice that he looks like he understands where she is coming from.

“That’s an incredibly rational concern, especially in our line of work. So knowing this, how have you felt about being back at work the last couple of days? Or even just this morning raiding that house?” he studies the Tasha's face as she studies the baby in her lap. The little boy is shifting and it looks like he might be waking up.

“I suppose I haven’t had time to worry about anyone, because we’ve been so busy. This morning was straightforward, we move as a team and everyone is watching out for everyone else, so there is a kind of confidence there because we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We are the strongest when we are together.” She grins at Nathan, now awake in her lap and leans over to retrieve the bottle she prepared earlier. He excitedly latches on and feeds contently as she turns back to her conversation with the doctor.

He makes a note in his journal before continuing. “Well I can see that your work hasn’t been affected so I won’t be holding you back in any aspect.” He gives her a reassuring smile. “There is one more thing I want to ask you about though.”

“Sure.” Tasha is monumentally relieved that he won’t be pulling her from duty over her mental health, but she is kind of nervous about what else he might have to ask her.

“How do you feel about Nathan’s attachment to you? Because from what I’ve been told, no one else can even touch him without him melting down.” He cautiously reaches out a hand towards the baby, but rapidly pulls it back when his bottom lip begins to tremble.

She sighs because she honestly doesn’t know what to say about the little boy. “I guess it’s nice that I make him feel safe, but I am not overly maternal. I don’t know what’s going to happen if we don’t find his parents soon, because he’s been with us for around six hours and I can’t be further than touching distance from him. It’s not something that I feel I can maintain. Like, about two hours ago I had to pee, so Mayfair came to the bathroom with me and held him outside the stall. I was talking to him the whole time and Mayfair was singing, but he screamed and screamed until I took him back off her.” Tasha laughs a little bit at the memory of the Director of the FBI singing to the hysterical child and looking at her with panic in her eyes, while Tasha herself was pulling her pants up on the way to the sink to wash her hands.

Borden laughs at the thought of Mayfair being flustered about anything. “Well, let’s hope that this is a case that is resolved quickly then.”

Tasha nods in agreement and smiles at the little boy in her lap. She runs her fingers gently through his dark hair and he tries to grab her fingers. He suddenly goes very still and before Tasha can react he starts vomiting all down the front of her. Borden dramatically rolls away from the carnage and Tasha is frozen in disgust and horror. When it finally ends she looks up to see Borden covering his mouth on the other side of the room, trying desperately not to laugh. She grabs a towel out of the bag she has with her and attempts to mop up some of the mess. She can feel it all down the front of her shirt, inside her blazer and soaking into her pants. Nathan is also covered in vomit and she is horrified at this entire scene.

“We done for now?” she asks Doctor Borden as she rises off the floor, leaving a small puddle of vomit behind.

He nods his head in the affirmative, still valiantly attempting to not laugh.

“Great.” She strides out of the room with the baby fidgeting in her arms, leaving everything else behind for later.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha is marching towards the dressing room with Nathan, both completely soaked in vomit when she rounds a corner and nearly crashes into Reade. The grown man nearly squeals when he realises how close he came to getting it on himself. She is glaring at him furiously and he bursts into uncontrollable laughter, drawing the attention of Mayfair and Weller, both of whom break into a near run attempting to escape from the entire situation. When Reade’s laughter finally dies down and he is wiping tears from his eyes Tasha glares at him again and orders him to come with her.

He hesitates and she says “Do you want me to hug you right now?”

“All right, there’s no need for that, I’m coming.” He says taking a step back and reluctantly following her to the dressing room.

Once they reach their destination Tasha gets Reade to turn the shower on and go find a bag for the vomit soaked clothes. Once he is satisfied with the water temperature he bounds out of the room to find a clothes bag and Tasha is left with the squirming baby. She strips Nathan out of his clothes, kicks off her socks and shoes and walks fully clothed into the shower. She is using her body to protect him from the worst of the spray and she quickly has him completely cleaned. The little boy is happily playing with the soaked strands of her hair and using one hand she shrugs out of her blazer and drops it to the floor. She manages to get her pants off and is midway through unbuttoning her shirt, with Nathan giggling excitedly when she hears the door open and shut.

“Reade, what took you so long?” she calls out to the room.

“Well Reade got called out with the team. We think we’ve found where they are holding Nathan’s parents, so they went to check it out. He told me you were in the shower and needed help?” Patterson’s voice floats to Tasha through the bathroom.

The brunette silently curses to herself, because of course he did, and of course the first time she gets to speak to Patterson alone in the last three days she is half naked, stinking of vomit and holding a baby.

“So what’s…” Patterson pauses as she comes into sight of Tasha and Nathan “… umm Tash do you need help?”

“Yes please. There is a very good chance that he’ll scream hysterically though so brace yourself.” Tasha faces the blonde and waits patiently as she grabs a towel and comes over to take the baby from her so she can clean herself.

Patterson opens up the towel, wraps it around the little boy and carefully extracts him from Tasha’s toned arms. Both of the women flinch a little bit, expecting Nathan to start howling at them, but to their surprise he just fiddles happily with Patterson’s necklace. Tasha quickly makes the most of this opportunity and strips off her soaked shirt and rapidly scrubs herself down, still in her underwear. She is so focussed on finishing her task before the baby cries again that she doesn’t notice Patterson staring at her longingly. Tasha shuts off the water and steps out of the shower for her towel. The blonde quickly averts her eyes and finishes drying Nathan off. Tasha walks out of view to get changed and Patterson curses herself for not saying anything to her. She wants to talk about what happened at her house and clear the air, because she has spent the last few days feeling upset that she crossed a line by forcing herself into the Tasha’s space.

She puts a fresh diaper and a fluffy, blue onesie on the little boy and waits patiently for Tasha to come back, desperately trying to think of something to start a conversation with her. All too soon the brunette comes striding back into the room and Patterson has to catch her breath at the sight of the other woman. Tasha is wearing torn up jeans, black boots and a baggy, grey t-shirt that is so threadbare that Patterson can see her black lace bra underneath. Her hair has been pulled up into a messy bun and the blonde is pretty sure that she has never seen another woman as beautiful as the one standing in front of her in her entire life.

“Well I’m officially down to my last clean set of clothes in this building.” Tasha laughs and picks up Nathan out of Patterson’s lap.

The blonde is mesmerised by the smile painted on Tasha’s face as she swings the laughing little boy around in the air. All too soon the twirling stops and the brunette plants herself on the bench next to Patterson. They both sit silently for a moment just watching each other. Tasha opens her mouth to tell Patterson everything, but Mayfair bursts into the room completely derailing the moment.

“Patterson I need you on coms in your office now and Zapata I need you and the boy with me.” The Director storms out as quickly as she came in and the women waste no time in following her out. Tasha takes her place at Mayfair’s side and sighs over yet another missed opportunity to speak to Patterson.

Patterson is currently directing the team through an old, abandoned building and Tasha takes the opportunity to watch the blonde in action. It’s not often that she gets to witness her work from this side of the coms and she is slightly in awe of how controlled and measured she is. No wonder she’s always the one on the other end telling them what to do, she is completely calm and focussed under pressure and something inside Tasha settles knowing that this woman is watching over them when they are out in the field.

They are watching a video feed of Weller storming through the building and when they eventually find Nathan’s parents alive and well everyone lets out an audible sigh of relief. Weller is trying to convince them that their son is in FBI custody and completely unharmed, but they don’t believe him. They think that the men that kidnapped them are holding him somewhere else as leverage.

“You get all that?” Weller rumbles through the coms.

“Yep.” Patterson responds and pulls up a video link on her monitor that connects her to Reade’s face almost immediately.

Reade flips his phone screen around so everyone can see and Tasha steps into view, with Nathan in her arms.

Weller points at the screen. “That is Natasha Zapata holding your son. She is one of the best agents the FBI has to offer and she has been personally taking care of him since he came into our custody.”

Tasha offers an awkward wave, not used to hearing such high praise from her team leader, and Garth and Nora Brooks both cry in relief that their son is okay.

Weller’s voice comes in loud and clear over the coms. “We’re coming back.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha is sitting silently in Mayfair’s office with Nathan once again passed out in her lap. Mayfair and Patterson are with her, and they are all waiting for the team to return with the little boy’s parents. All of his clothes and belongings are packed haphazardly into the bag they took from his house and his blanket is draped over his sleeping body. Tasha is gently running her fingers through his hair and she considers briefly that she is going to miss this little boy.

The comfortable silence is broken by the team returning and Weller entering the office with Garth and Nora Brooks. Tasha stands up and wordlessly hands over their son. She uncomfortably steps away from them and moves to leave the office so that Mayfair can talk to them. Patterson has already left and just as Tasha goes to push open the door a hand on her shoulder stops her. She turns back around and is enveloped in a hug from Nora Brooks.

“Thank you for looking after Nate.” She whispers tearfully into Tasha’s shoulder.

The brunette awkwardly returns the hug. “It was no problem, I was just doing my job. He’s a great kid.”

Nora Brooks releases her hold on the brunette and Garth steps over to shake her hand, his son sitting happily in his other arm. “Yes thank you Natasha, he’s not usually very good with strangers, but he seems to like you.”

“Tasha is fine, and really I was just doing my job.” The brunette is getting highly uncomfortable from all of this praise. She watched over him because she was literally the only one that could. Anyone else on her team would have done the same thing in her position.

“Thank you again, Tasha.” Nora Brooks offers her a teary smile and she backs out of the room as soon as she can.

It is very late in the afternoon and she heads down to the gym to have a moment to collect herself. She knows that it should be abandoned at around this time and she is relieved to find that she is right, as she shoulders her way into the room. She leans against the wall and slides down into a sitting position. She takes a few deep breaths and wipes away the stray tears she can feel falling. She got so attached to that kid in such a short period of time and she doesn’t want to admit it, but she already misses him.

Reade finds her around an hour later and declares that they are going drinking, so no more of this crying business. She happily allows her friend to help take her mind off the day they had. Sometimes this glorious weirdo, that is her best friend, isn’t all that bad.


	8. What Are We Even Doing Here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been absolutely ages since I updated this story and I'm so, so sorry about that. I've been working a ridiculous amount and I've had the worst writers block, but I haven't forgotten. I will finish this! I can't promise super speedy updates but I promise I am doing my absolute best.
> 
> Huge thank you to everyone that sent me comments and kudos, you guys definitely helped me get this chapter out.
> 
> Enjoy!

Tasha is sitting at her desk staring blankly at all of the files scattered in front of her. She is currently knee deep in paperwork that she has to have filled out and sorted before end of business hours today. She glances over at the clock and groans miserably because it is only ten o’clock in the morning and she is already sick to death of writing and fact checking. After she reads the same line for the fourth time she looks over to Reade to see if he is making any more progress than she is. He is not. He is quietly banging his forehead against his desk; the stacks of files surrounding his head are even taller than Tasha’s. A quick check shows Weller sitting at his desk, grinding his teeth in frustration and tapping furiously away on his keyboard. Jane is haphazardly lifting file after file off her desk looking utterly lost and weary.

Tasha stretches out, trying in vain to remove the ache that is starting to develop in her lower back, from sitting down all day. It is now around two thirty in the afternoon and she only has two smallish files left to process and she could almost cry with relief. Somehow they have all managed to persevere throughout the day and get their paperwork almost finished; they might even be able to leave somewhat early at this rate. She flips open the second last file and begins to fill out the top form when her attention is broken by Mayfair entering the room. Tasha cringes when the Director starts walking desk to desk and dropping another stack of files on each. Her new stack of paperwork lands on her desk with a dull thud and the brunette eyes the offending papers with malice.

“Now I know everyone has had a long day stuck in the office, but you are all making good time and I believe you can have this all done by the end of the day.” Mayfair states sympathetically.

“I think it would help if we knew why it all has to be done today. Some of this stuff isn’t even due for another week or two.” Reade says glancing up from a particularly thick folder.

“I was going to tell you all later, but I suppose now is as good a time as any.” Mayfair smirks. “You four are being sent on an assignment in the morning, so you won’t be here to finish the paperwork. That’s why I need it done today.”

Weller straightens in his chair immediately. “What’s the assignment? Have you cracked another one of Jane’s tattoos?”

“It’s not a tattoo case and you will be briefed in the morning. I expect you all to be here at five am sharp.” The Director calls over her shoulder as she strides towards her office.

Reade groans pitifully at the thought of such an early morning after such a slow day. Jane rests her face in her hands and Tasha can see her slowly shaking her head back and forth. Tasha is right there with them, today has been boring as hell and she absolutely does not want to be up and awake at the crack of dawn, in the freezing cold for some mysterious assignment.

“All right everyone, let’s get this over with then and hopefully tomorrow will be a bit more interesting.” Kurt runs a hand through his close cropped hair and starts reading through his top file with a renewed sense of vigour.

Tasha envies him so much right now. The promise of a case has him perked up and ready to speed through his paperwork, but Tasha is running on empty. Her brain is starting to feel fuzzy and she has a headache starting to build behind her eyes from reading all day without a break. She sighs in defeat and goes back to filling in the forms, because as much as she hates them, she has orders and Tasha is not the kind of woman to not come through when she is told to do something.

 

* * *

 

Tasha is sitting on her desk at ten minutes to five, idly swinging her legs and waiting for Reade and Jane to arrive. Weller is already here, slouched in his chair and waiting for Mayfair to exit her office so that she can tell them what is happening. He is glaring at her door like, somehow, that will make their boss come out faster. Tasha takes a sip of her steaming coffee and sighs gently as she feels its warmth run through her body. The ding of the elevator stopping at their floor draws her attention and she looks over to see Reade slouching over towards his desk. He is nearly inhaling his coffee and Tasha doesn’t even attempt to supress the grin that works its way onto her face at the sight of his clear misery.

She plasters a sunny grin onto her face and, as cheerfully as she can manage for this hour, calls out to her friend. “Good morning sunshine! Glad to see you made it.”

“You’re hilarious.” Reade replies completely deadpan, before downing the rest of his coffee like a man dying of thirst.

Tasha opens her mouth to retort, but she is distracted by Jane running into the room, keys and jacket in hand. Jane checks the time and breathes a sigh of relief when she realises that she made it on time with a minute to spare. The tattooed woman dumps her armload of stuff onto her desk and comes over to hop up on to the desk next to Tasha. The brunette chuckles as Jane attempts to flatten down one side of her short hair, because she clearly didn’t have the time to brush it before she left the house and it is quite unruly. The two women sit together on the desk swinging their legs, Jane is finger-brushing her hair and Tasha is sipping her coffee. The comfortable silence that has settled over the four team members is broken by Mayfair swinging open her office door and walking out with a single file in her hand. They are all quite surprised when Patterson follows her out with a grin and a small wave.

Tasha’s stomach flip-flops at the sight of the blonde and she groans internally that she still hasn’t had the opportunity to talk her about everything. The brunette has found herself fantasising about the kiss she shared with Patterson while they were undercover and she is desperately hoping that she will get the opportunity to kiss the beautiful blonde for real one day.

Weller stands up and walks around his desk so that he is face to face with Mayfair. “So what’s the mission?”

Mayfair smirks and drops the file onto the nearest free desk and opens it up. She pulls out a few sheets of paper and spreads them over the surface of the desk as the team crowds around to see what they say. She clears her throat to gain their attention.

“Starting at nine o’clock this morning the five of you will be participating in what is, essentially, a scavenger hunt aimed at promoting relations between various government agencies. I have selected all of you to be the FBI representatives because as much as this event is to promote co-operation and ease hostilities, I will be disappointed if we don’t crush them.” Mayfair grins at the confused looks most of her team have plastered on their faces.

“The five of us? So Patterson’s coming out with us?” Weller asks gruffly as he reads over one of the information sheets.

“Yes she is. There are clues at each checkpoint and each clue has to be solved so you can move on to the next location. Each of you has been chosen because you all have a unique skillset to bring to the table and I believe Patterson will be a valuable asset to you all out there. I also must warn you that this event will be very physical and you will need to work together to get through it.”

“So what exactly is this? And who are we competing against?” Reade asks, still thoroughly confused about what Mayfair has signed them up for.

“The FBI, CIA, NSA, DEA and Homeland Security have all entered five of their top agents to compete in this event. This is the first of its kind to be held in the history of our nation. It will be a test of tactical skills, endurance, intelligence and mental stamina. The agents that designed the course are the only people that know the exact details for the moment, but we will all be briefed when we reach the starting location. I have been told that they expect this to last for at least six to nine days and in that time you will not be allowed to make contact with anyone outside of myself and your team, so if you have to speak to anyone do it now, because we will be leaving in ten minutes.” Mayfair stares at them all pointedly as she picks up all of the papers and shoves them back in the folder. Once she is satisfied that they are all appropriately excited and terrified she saunters back into her office.

“Is anyone else kind of frightened right now?” Reade glances around at his companions, all looking shocked and confused.

Patterson jumps a little with a large grin plastered on her face. “This is going to be so fun!”

 

* * *

 

 

At precisely eight thirty, after travelling for a little over an hour, the team drives into a parking lot situated next to a large and unassuming warehouse. Mayfair assures them that this is the starting location and where they are going to be briefed about the coming days. Tasha glances nervously out of the window and notices at least six men watching their approach, wearing full tactical gear. The car comes to a halt and everyone jumps out, fully alert and waiting on Mayfair’s orders. The older woman nods her head in greeting to the agents outside and strides towards the main doors of the warehouse.

The inside of the building is mostly empty, except for a long table and large group of chairs in the middle of the room. There are also five black tents set up against the far wall. Each tent has a different coloured flag hanging next to the door. The red, blue, yellow, purple and green flags are the only source of colour in the entire building and Tasha is curious as to what they represent. There are men and women, all dressed in dark, practical suits, milling about and talking in small groups. Mayfair is talking to a tall, muscular man with a close cropped beard and a warm smile. Clearly they know each other and Tasha takes a minute to study the other people in the building. She notes, with some satisfaction, that most of the others look as confused as she feels.

Mayfair finishes her conversation and re-joins their small group. She points out the agents that have been sent to compete by the CIA and the DEA. The agents from the NSA and Homeland Security haven’t arrived yet. They make their way over and introduce themselves. Tasha is making small talk with an intense DEA agent when the other competing agents arrive together. She quickly makes her way back to her team and the man she assumes is running this thing calls everyone to their allocated seats. There are six seats labelled FBI and they sit down and give their undivided attention to the man standing in front of the long table. He waits patiently as everyone finds their places and when he is satisfied that he has everyone’s unwavering focus he speaks.

“I’m glad to see everyone could make it. My name is Colin Garrett and I am running this event. I have personally hand-picked an elite team to create the course that you will all be running over the next week or so. I understand that you are all still in the dark about the extent of what will be happening here, but we didn’t want to provide anyone with some kind of unfair advantage.

In a moment I will have your team leaders come up to the table and select an envelope that will contain your individual mission stats. Each team will be working through a different course, but that doesn’t mean that any team will be at an advantage. Each course will require the same level of physical and intellectual stamina and the core objective is the same.

We are essentially here to test the effectiveness and competency of each agency and potentially improve upon the current guidelines set in place within the government. So basically treat this as you would any other mission. Work with the information we give you and adapt your strategies as you learn more. We will be watching your progress here at base and you will be armed with non-lethal weapons because any resistance you face will come from people from my team. Team leaders, step up and select your missions.”

Kurt rises out of his seat next to Mayfair and makes his way up to the front, along with four other grim looking agents. Agent Garrett holds out a plain black bag about the size of his fist and says something that Tasha can’t hear from where she is sitting. Each agent takes something out of the bag and holds it hidden in their closed hands. At a word from Agent Garrett they all open their hands and resting on their palms is a different coloured marble. Kurt’s marble is green. They all hand back their marbles and collect the corresponding coloured envelopes off the table. Kurt calls them over and they all follow him over to the tent marked with the green flag. Once they get inside they crowd around a small table that is set up in the centre of the tent and Kurt drops the green envelope down unceremoniously.

Two Agents follow them into the tent with six plain boxes and stack them on the edge of the table. They leave again almost immediately and Weller opens the envelope to reveal a map and the name Clara Esther O’Malley.

“Well this is a vague starting point.” Weller checks the envelope again to make sure they have everything and he is vaguely disappointed that this is all of the information they are going to receive.

Colin Garrett strides into their tent with a grin plastered on his face and the team immediately turn all of their attention to him.

Garrett claps his hands together. “Right. Green Team, your transport will be leaving in thirty minutes so we need to get you all organised. Five of these boxes are labelled with your names. Inside is a change of clothes more appropriate for where you are going. The sixth box contains a few necessary items to help you over the next few days and they are specific for your mission, so I’d highly recommend not losing them.” He points out five packs leaning against the wall. “Those packs are all identically stocked with food, water, weapons and such. Each of you is required to take one. Finally the lockers at the back of the tent are for your personal belongings, because you will not be permitted to take anything you are wearing now or anything you may have brought with you today. Don’t worry, they are completely secure and you can retrieve everything once your mission is complete. Once you are all ready come and meet me at the West entrance and we will get you on your way.” Garrett spins on his heel and walks out leaving the team to their business.

They all open their boxes and pull out identical sets of lightweight tactical gear and sturdy boots. Tasha and Jane both laugh when they realise that there is a plain black bra and underwear to match.

“They really thought of everything, didn’t they?” Jane grins as she holds the bra to her chest.

“How do they know our sizes?” Tasha asks confused.

“I told them, so this could all be pre-organised.” Mayfair states matter-of-fact.

Patterson tilts her head. “How do you know our sizes?”

“You’d be surprised at what I know.” Mayfair smirks. “Anyway, I’ll leave you all to get ready. I’m going to see about this transport.”

Patterson turns wide eyed to the rest of the team after the Director leaves and they all share a nervous laugh at how intense their boss can be.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Kurt pulls his shirt off and replaces it with the one in his box.

Tasha, Jane and Patterson all move to the lockers and start removing watches, jewellery and jackets. Tasha pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it into her locker. She is working on the clasp to her pants when she realises that Patterson is right next to her and now is not the time to get hung up on the fact that they are about to get naked next to each other. Tasha is so intent on staring straight ahead and ignoring everyone else that she doesn’t notice Patterson glancing at her every other second, unable to not look at the beautiful woman next to her.

They are all dressed, with a pack at their feet when Kurt opens the final box. Inside is a long range walkie talkie for communicating with Mayfair, a compass, a notebook, a pack of pencils, some twine, a fire starter and a photo of a small stone statue in the shape of a dancing woman. They split up the items and store them in their packs. In unspoken agreement they leave their tent and make their way over to the West entrance, where Mayfair is waiting for them. They all pile into the back of their transport vehicle and Mayfair wishes them luck. With a loud rumble the truck roars to life and they are driven away from the warehouse.

They are all sitting nervously quiet when the truck pulls to a stop much sooner than any of them expected. The driver hops out and instructs them to do the same. They grab their packs, jump down onto loose gravel and are met with the sight of a large helicopter waiting for them. They are efficiently escorted onto the chopper and are soon flying over a very large wooded area.

Tasha notices that Patterson is looking a little green and takes her hand to get her attention.

“Are you feeling alright?” the brunette asks with concern lacing her tone.

Patterson grips her hand tighter and offers a small smile. “Yeah, I’m just a bit nervous about sitting in a helicopter with huge gaps in the side.”

“We should be there soon, so there’s no need to worry.” Tasha leans a bit closer to the blonde and neither of them release the hold they have on each other’s hand.

Reade grins at them maniacally when he realizes that they are holding hands and he is thoroughly disappointed that he had to leave his phone behind, because he desperately wants to take a picture of how sappy Tasha looks right now.


	9. Let's Go Into the Woods Today

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally get a look into some of Patterson's feelings and the team essentially goes extreme camping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I haven't updated in SO long. Sorry about that, I hadn't even realised how much time had gotten away from me. THANK YOU so much to the beautiful humans that have left comments and kudos and if you are still sticking with me I hope this doesn't disappoint. I will stick with this until the end! Enjoy.

The helicopter lands in a small clearing that is completely surrounded by large trees. The team all jump out, along with the agent that was sent to accompany them. They all put on their back packs and move away from the roaring helicopter blades.

“Alright, from here you are on your own. You can communicate with Mayfair as you wish and if any of you are injured a medical evac will be sent out immediately. You all have GPS locators in your shoes so we can find you, so don’t lose them.” The agent smiles reassuringly.

“We have our clues, but where are we supposed to go from here? We have nothing to go on in the way of directions.” Kurt asks for the team.

“Due North. You’ll know it when you see it. Good luck!” The agent shakes Weller’s hand and jogs back to the helicopter. The team watches the helicopter rise and eventually disappear from sight. Patterson pulls out the compass and Reade unfolds the map.

“Due North was not much of a clue to go on.” Patterson grumbles as she studies the map. Around eighty five percent of the map is just dense forest, occasionally broken up by rivers and small clearings. There are no obvious landmarks or man-made interferences of any kind.

“There is absolutely nothing on this map for us to aim towards.” Reade huffs in annoyance.

Jane walks over to glance at the map. “It’s already midday, so why don’t we just start heading due North and hope we come across something on the way?”

Weller nods his agreement “I think that’s a good enough plan to start off with. Let’s work out where we are now, so we can mark it on the map and then we’ll go.”

Jane points to a clearing on the bottom, left side of the map and taps it. “I was watching as we flew out here and this looks similar to the landscape from the sky. I’m pretty sure this is where we are.”

Reade and Weller voice their agreement and Tasha takes a closer look at the map. She has no idea where they are because she spent the entire flight looking at Patterson and now she feels a little bit guilty that she can’t even contribute to this conversation because of it. Weller pulls out a pencil and draws a small cross on the clearing they think is their current location.

Patterson hands the compass to Weller and he turns so he is facing due north. As a team they consult the map one more time. Weller points to a small river situated at the base of a small mountain range. “I think we should aim to reach this river by nightfall. We can camp there tonight and refill our water bottles in the morning. We’ll have to push hard to get there before it gets dark, but I think we can do it. If we haven’t found anything by the time we get there we can reassess in the morning.”

Everyone voices their agreement and one by one they follow their team leader into the forest.

 

* * *

 

 

The team have been marching at a gruelling pace for nearly four hours and Tasha is silently cursing how tight the muscles in her calves are feeling. For the last half an hour they have been steadily progressing up a steep incline and everyone has sweat pouring down their backs and dripping into their eyes. Tasha is fighting the urge to complain when Kurt calls them to a sudden stop at the top of the incline. They all breathe a sigh of relief and reach for their water bottles, happy for an opportunity to catch their breaths and stamp some feeling back into their feet.

“Does anyone else see that?” Weller points down into the valley, towards a dense tree line.

Reade uses his hand to shield his eyes against the glaring sun “It’s the river!”

“Let’s go then, I would love to have a swim before it gets dark.” Jane hoists her back pack onto her shoulders and starts navigating down the rocky side of the small range they are currently standing on.

“Oh my God, I’ve never been so excited for a swim in my entire life.” Patterson grins and takes off after Jane.

Tasha laughs and brushes a few stray strands of hair back behind her ear. Reade nudges her as he walks past and she shoves him back, before she takes off after the two women ahead of them with Reade hot on her heels.

They reach the river with a fair amount of daylight left and Kurt declares it to be a secure camp site, so they quickly gather a decent amount of fire wood and build a small fire pit on the sandy bank of the river. Once their make-shift camp is set up and a small fire is blazing, Jane decides she is well overdue for a swim. She strides to the water’s edge and strips down to her underwear, placing her clothes haphazardly over her boots. Reade wanders over to join her and kicks off his boots before pulling his shirt over his head.

“I am not excited about wandering around in wet underwear for the rest of the afternoon. Do you guys mind if I just go nude?” Jane calls over her shoulder.

“I don’t care at all.” Reade laughs as he drops his pants and lunges completely naked into the water.

Jane shakes her head as Tasha and Patterson start laughing hysterically at Reade splashing around in the water. The tattooed woman glances back over her shoulder to see Kurt completely absorbed in studying the map and Patterson taking her shirt off. She quickly strips the rest of her clothes off and dives into the water. She stays underwater until her lungs burn and she breaks the surface to find Patterson in the water and Reade trying to splash Tasha, who is glaring at him. There is something invigorating about swimming naked and Jane takes a moment to revel in how excellent the conditions are for swimming. She throws her head back and marvels at the gently rustling tree tops above them and the slight breeze taking some of the heat away from the intense sunlight filtering down. Her moment of contemplation is broken by Reade cheering and a splash. Jane looks back over to her team and grins when she realises that Reade is cheering because he convinced Tasha to join them for a swim. She paddles back over and she can hear Tasha and Reade playfully throwing insults at each other and she laughs again at their behaviour. She floats to a stop near Reade and she notices that Patterson’s face is very red and she is awfully quiet.

“You okay Patterson? You didn’t get sunburned did you?” Jane questions, while gesturing towards her own face.

Tasha and Reade both turn towards the blonde in concern as well, as she sputters in response. “I’m fine guys, I promise.”

“Maybe you should get in the shade just in case though?” Reade points to a shady area a bit further down the river and the blonde hastily nods her head and kicks off away from the group.

Jane watches as Reade shares a pointed look with Tasha and to Jane’s utter confusion the brunette looks slightly panicked. Reade shoves her slightly and she shoves him back whilst shaking her head angrily. Jane is absolutely lost as to what they could suddenly be disagreeing about. The heated whisper argument swiftly ends with Tasha turning around and making her way out of the water and towards her discarded clothes.

Jane glides over to Reade. “What was that about?”

Reade drops his face a bit lower into the water and blows bubbles in frustration. “It’s complicated.”

“Well I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I have nowhere to be for the rest of the afternoon.” She waves a tattooed arm in the direction of their campsite.

Reade takes a moment to study Tasha and Kurt sitting at the camp fire before he turns his attention back to Jane. He drops his voice to a whisper, “Do you promise that you can keep a secret?”  

“Of course! Are you okay?” Jane asks eyes wide in concern.

“I’m fine. It’s that idiot that I’m worried about.” He nods his head in Tasha’s direction.

Jane patiently waits for Reade to gather his thoughts.

“God, she’ll kill me if she ever finds out I told you this. Tasha is a super private person and I feel like this is kind of betraying her trust.” Reade scrubs a hand down his face and lets out a deep breath.

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, but I am a good listener if you ever need me to be.” Jane holds up her hands in a placating manner.

Reade glances back towards the campsite and notices Patterson sitting at the fire now, smiling softly at Tasha. “No. If I don’t tell anyone it will drive me insane. I can’t be the only person to notice this.”

“What is it?” Jane whispers fearfully, now more curious than ever about what is going on.

“Okay. Right, here goes… A while back I noticed Tasha was being super weird, but it was around the time that dodgy bomb went off at the office so I didn’t think too much of it, right?”

Jane nods her encouragement to continue, her brain working a mile a minute coming up with all sorts of life altering scenarios that Tasha could be involved in, but not wanting to voice any concerns until Reade has finished his story.

“Anyway, I ended up confronting her about it and Tasha being Tasha immediately closed off and wouldn’t tell me about it. It must have been bugging her for a while already though, because it didn’t take too long to get her to talk to me. She was pretty upset at the time and now I think she’s just in denial about the whole thing.” Reade shrugs and glances again at the group on the bank to make sure they were unaware of this conversation.

“What is it?” Jane whispers fearfully, drawing Reade’s attention back towards herself.

“She told me that she has a crush on Patterson. Although at this point I think she’s in love with her, but she’s too afraid of her feelings to do anything about it. Hell, she might not even know she loves her yet.” He breathes out, relieved that now someone else can carry the burden of this knowledge with him.

“Holy shit!” Jane whispers, her eyes wide in amazement that she hadn’t noticed anything was wrong with her friend. A crashing wave of guilt soon follows, that she hadn’t been able to support the brunette when she was having an emotional crisis.

“I know! And what’s worse is that Patterson is clearly into her as well. I’ve been trying to get Tasha to make a move but she seems to think that it would end in disaster.” He growls in frustration. “They would be so damn good together, but neither of them will make a damn move.”

Jane is currently running through every interaction she’s seen the other women have in the last few weeks and her mouth drops open in wonder that she’d missed the signs the first time around. The smirks, the inside jokes, the playful banter, the way they always seem to be standing next to each other and the way that Patterson occasionally stutters when Tasha enters the room.

“Oh my God! It’s so obvious now. How the hell didn’t I see this before?” Jane face palms and Reade shoots her a look of complete understanding.

“Welcome to the club.” He claps a hand on her shoulder before swimming away and getting out of the water.

Jane floats for a while longer, just processing everything she has learned and re-evaluating everything she thought she understood. Reade is right though, they would be an attractive couple. They would be emotionally well balanced too. She watches the team from the water. Reade is telling a story and Kurt and Tasha have their heads thrown back in laughter. Patterson is laughing too, but all of her focus is on Tasha and the only word Jane can come up with to describe the look on her face is enraptured. That’s it, tomorrow she is going to somehow find a way to talk to the blonde and find out what’s going on with her, because if she has feelings for Tasha, like she and Reade both suspect, it should be easy enough to get them together.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s just breaking dawn when Kurt rallies the team out of their slumber. They all groan and stretch miserably after a long night spent on the ground, using their back packs as pillows. They eat a quick breakfast of oatmeal cooked over the fire which everyone, except Kurt, complained heartily about. Kurt efficiently douses the fire and they are all quickly packed, the water bottles filled and ready to leave.

“Alright, so due North will take us straight across the river and up the embankment. Anyone have a better idea?” Kurt looks to each of his team members in turn. They are all slightly dishevelled, but none argue about the plan. “Let’s go then.”

Kurt marks their camp site onto the map and then stuffs it and the compass into his pack and starts them at a brisk pace. They all fall in behind him, too sleepy to strike up a conversation at this hour of the day.

Their brisk start is long forgotten as it nears late morning and they continue making their way uphill. The map tells them that there will be a clearing at the top of this rise, but it feels never-ending in its consistent ascent. They push through, voicing encouragement when someone seems to falter and eventually the terrain levels out and they all breathe a sigh of relief. They stop at the edge of the clearing for a water break and to catch their breath.

“Hey guys. I think something is out there.” Patterson has a hand shading her eyes and she is staring out into the sunny clearing.

Everyone tries to focus on an object that they can see in the distance, but they are too far away to tell what it is. It is decided that they are going to check out the mysterious object, but they also agree that it could be a trap, so they take out their weapons and enter the clearing cautiously. The grass is long and reaches up above their knees. They progress slowly across the field, with Kurt in the lead, in tense silence. Eventually they reach the centre of the clearing and to their surprise, find a concrete column with a small statue of a dancing woman on top. The whole thing is well weathered and has clearly been here for a long time.

“Is this it? I was expecting something a bit more exciting.” Reade walks around the column and is thoroughly disappointed when there is nothing hidden around the base.

“Well what do we do now? There’s nothing here.” Tasha lowers her weapon and looks despondently around the field.

“Wait! You guys, this statue is different!” Patterson quickly unzips her back pack and starts rustling through its contents. She triumphantly pulls out the photo that was given to them at the base and compares it to the statue.

Jane moves closer and looks at the picture as well. “Look. In the photo the dancer has both of her arms raised above her head, but the statue here has one arm raised and one pointing off to the side.” Patterson is absolutely delighted to be working at solving a clue.

“It has to mean something right?” Jane looks between the photo and the statue again. “It can’t be a coincidence that we find a statue nearly identical to one of our clues out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“I agree with Jane.” Kurt is still warily glancing towards the edges of the clearing. “What do you think it means Patterson?”

“I think we should go in the direction that the statue is pointing. It’s the only difference between the two and it’s about as informative as the first clue we got anyway.” The blonde hands the photo to Reade and Tasha.

“Do we all agree?” Kurt waits for agreement from the team, which they are happy to provide. “Alright then.”

Once again Kurt pulls out the map and marks down their current location. Using the compass he determines the new direction they need to follow and marks that down as well, so they will have some sort of guideline to follow. Wordlessly he leads the team out of the clearing and away from the dancing statue.

 

* * *

 

 

It is well into the afternoon and everyone is starting to feel the effects of two days of solid walking. Kurt is well ahead, scouting the area and keeping them on track. Reade and Tasha are not far behind him and bickering about sports or something. Jane has let herself fall behind to catch a moment alone with Patterson. The blonde is clearly struggling with how physical the pace has been so far. Her time in the gym doesn’t cover for how much time she spends in the office apparently.

“How are you doing Patterson?” Jane grins and nudges the blonde playfully.

“I’ll be better when we aren’t potentially lost in the forest and forced to sleep on the ground again.” Patterson states as she swats at a bug on her arm.

Jane huffs out a laugh at the blonde’s assessment. “Yeah, last night wasn’t the best for comfortable sleeping.”

“I shouldn’t complain though. At least it wasn’t cold or raining.” The blonde chances a glance at the clear sky above them as if, somehow, her mention of rain might have beckoned some wayward clouds to haunt them.

Jane nods her agreement. “Aside from this mission though, how are things? You know? Friends, hobbies, potential love interests and all that.” She keeps her face impassive, trying not to spook the blonde and potentially learn something about how she feels.

Patterson gives a slight shrug. “Same old, I suppose. Are you digging for gossip or something?” she side eyes her tattooed friend.

“So what if I am? Kurt is being all serious and silent. Tasha and Reade are bickering about God knows what and I am bored. Humour me. Tell me everything about you. ” Jane grins at the blonde, attempting to placate her with an air of camaraderie. “Also you never answered my question.”

“Well I guess that’s fair. It’s all been pretty uneventful so far. I was expecting a lot more action by now, but maybe they’re just trying to wear us out before they start throwing things at us.” The blonde furrows her brow at the thought.

Jane rolls her eyes at Patterson’s avoidance tactics and has to admit to herself that maybe getting the blonde to talk about her feelings will be harder than she thought. They continue walking in silence as Jane wracks her brain trying to think of a way to turn this conversation to where she wants it. Eventually she starts thinking about interrogation techniques and she realises that she should offer something about herself first to make the blonde feel more comfortable. She almost wants to slap herself at how obvious the solution is and worries a bit about her social skills that she couldn’t think of it sooner.

“So this guy called Oliver asked me out the other day.” She states calmly, watching the blonde out of the corner of her eye for a reaction.

Patterson instantly sputters in surprise because, she, like everyone else assumed that Jane and Kurt were an inevitability. She turns wide eyed to her tattooed friend “Did you say yes?”

Jane shrugs “I didn’t say no. He’s pretty cute.”

“That’s great Jane. I have a question though.” Patterson is grinning wickedly now.

“Shoot.” The brunette raises a perfectly sculpted brow at the blonde.

“When did you have time to go out and meet this cute Oliver because, as far as I know, you spend all of your time at the office?” Patterson shoves Jane playfully.

Jane laughs in surprise at the blonde’s question, but she does concede that it is a fair call. “I stopped in to get a coffee before work and he was in line ahead of me. Honestly though my only chance for a date would be some stranger in a coffee shop or someone from work, because you’re right that they are the only people I interact with.”

“I’m really happy for you Jane.” The blonde grins at the brunette earnestly.

“Thanks. So what about you? Met anyone in any coffee shops or at work that you want to tell me about?” Jane holds a branch back for the blonde and she doesn’t miss the blush that works its way furiously up her neck.

Patterson stutters out a response that is nearly unintelligible and her blush starts dusting her cheeks.

Jane lets the branch go and it swings back behind them. She smiles and bumps her shoulder into Patterson’s. “Well now you have to tell me who it is.”

“I can’t.” she sighs dejectedly.

“Why? Is it Kurt?” Jane laughs trying to break the sudden tension.

“No! Of course not.” The blonde laughs in surprise.

“Then who?” Jane gasps dramatically and latches onto Patterson’s arm “Is it me?”

The blonde sighs “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Nope.” Jane grabs the blonde’s hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

“Okay fine, just promise you won’t make fun of me.” Patterson stares resolutely ahead.

“I would never make fun of you.” The brunette holds her free hand over her heart and uses the other to squeeze the blonde’s hand again.

The blonde drops her voice to a whisper and Jane has to lean closer to hear her. “I’ve kind of had a crush on Tasha for a while now.”

Internally Jane is losing her shit. She is screaming with excitement and jumping up and down like a maniac, but externally she manages to keep it together. “Patterson that’s awesome and Tasha is the best, so I get it. Why haven’t you said anything to her?”

“Because she’s smart and beautiful and intimidating and what if she doesn’t feel the same way.” The blonde wrings her hands together nervously.

“Patterson, listen to me. You are also all of those things and you will never know unless you try. You might be surprised.” Jane throws her arm over the blonde’s shoulder and hugs her reassuringly.

“I can’t. It’ll freak her out and ruin everything.” Patterson starts flailing her arms.

“Why are you so sure she’d freak out?” Jane steps to the side a bit, to give the blonde some breathing room.

“Because she did after we slept together!” Patterson looks at Jane absolutely stricken.

The brunette almost chokes on her own tongue in surprise. “You slept together?!”

The blonde shushes her. “Not like that! We just slept.”

Jane holds up a hand and attempts to collect her thoughts. “Okay back up a second. When did this happen?”

Patterson sighs “When she came to stay with me after she got out of the hospital.”

“Did you have feelings for her then?” the brunette stares searchingly at her friend.

“I think so, but I didn’t realise it until after she went home. I knew I was attracted to her, but that’s a whole different thing.” Patterson is staring ahead, watching the object of her affections shove Reade into a bush.

Jane is also watching the pair ahead of them now. She can’t help but grin at Reade pulling himself out of the bush and imagining his reaction to this conversation. “So you slept together? What actually happened?”

“Do you remember the day I found the spider?” at Jane’s grim nod she continues, “Well I was still panicking when I went to bed and I couldn’t sleep, so I got up to talk to Tasha and she told me to just sleep with her. I was so tired, so I didn’t think too much about it and I fell asleep pretty quickly. Sometimes when I sleep though, I get really cuddly and when I woke up I was attached to her like a koala bear. She was already awake but she was too polite to shove me off.” Patterson scrubs a hand down her face in embarrassment of the memory.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Jane prompts after a beat of silence from the blonde.

“Well usually it wouldn’t be, except I was half lying on top of her and I was kind of groping her boob… and holding the band of her underwear.” Patterson’s blush flares back to life as she admits this.

Jane desperately attempts to hold in a snort of laughter because Patterson is clearly upset about it and she doesn’t want her to close off and stop talking to her. She composes herself quickly and offers a comforting smile to the blonde. “So what happened next? You said she freaked out.”

“I rolled off her and she jumped out of bed. She wasn’t wearing any pants and I may have stared a little bit. Then she literally ran away and avoided me for the entire day.” Patterson shrinks in on herself just thinking about it.

“Well I can’t speak for Tasha but I’m sure she had a good reason.” Jane grimaces just imagining how that interaction went down.

“Yeah, I freaked her out and she’s not into me like that.” Patterson miserably kicks a small rock out of her path.

Jane hugs the blonde into her side again and whispers assurances and support into her hair. The tattooed woman has to hold in a sigh of relief when Kurt calls for their attention. They all jog to catch up with him at the edge of the tree line and fall in behind their leader. They are situated at the top of a small rise that falls away sharply into a ravine and from their location they can see what looks to be a small building, sheltered underneath the trees on the far side of the small clearing.

After a small tactical planning session they wordlessly make their way down the precarious drop into the ravine. They stay low and steadily progress around the edge of the tree line with their weapons drawn. They break off into teams and storm the building efficiently and once it has been cleared they take a moment to properly assess their surroundings. The building is a small abandoned church that is a single open room. Half of the roof has collapsed and a large part of the back wall is missing, revealing a scattering of old headstones that are in various states of repair. Reade declares the whole area as ‘the stuff nightmares and horror movies are made of.’

It took the team most of the afternoon to cross the ravine and clear the church and they don’t have time to find a campsite so Kurt declares that they will be staying in the church because it provides some cover from the elements and a fire won’t be visible to anyone outside. Reade loses a game of rock, paper, scissors against Tasha so he reluctantly prepares to go out and find firewood, whilst Tasha clears debris out of a covered corner of the church for a sleeping area. Jane offers to help Reade collect firewood and the two make their way across the graveyard and towards the denser area of trees. Jane interrupts Reade’s mutterings about their imminent deaths with a large grin and an excited squeal.

“What the hell is going on with you? You’re way too happy about hanging out in this scary ass place.” Reade grumbles good-naturedly as he starts collecting sticks.

“So I managed to have a good chat with Patterson today and I have learned some things about how she feels towards a certain brunette friend of ours.” Jane sing-songs as she starts gathering her own sticks.

Reade’s eyes go wide and he jogs over to the brunette. “What did she say?! Was I right, or is Tasha gonna get her heart broken?”

“Patterson is so into Tasha it’s ridiculous! I got the whole backstory too and she’s had real feelings for her for ages.” Jane grins at the taller man and lets out a giddy laugh at the look of excitement on his face.

The only thing that prevents Reade from cheering loudly is his fear of being heard by something further out in the encroaching darkness. “That’s it! Jane, you and I are going to get them together. I don’t know how or when, but together I think we can make them see exactly how good they can be together.”

“Agreed. Let’s hurry up and finish collecting firewood though because it will be dark soon and I don’t want to be out here when it comes.” She squats down to stack more wood into her arms and the reminder of their surroundings prompts Reade to hurry up himself.

They tumble back into the church with overflowing armfuls of wood and massive grins that they tried and failed to fight down. Tasha eyes Reade suspiciously. “What are you two so happy about? When you left you were convinced we were going to die here.”

The taller man drops his armful of wood and offers a shrug. “What can I say? I can be happy and terrified at the same time.”

Jane laughs and draws the attention of the shorter brunette. “You two are up to something and I will find out what it is.” She points at Reade and Jane in turn, then spins around to settle herself into the corner next to Patterson which prompts a small spate of laughter from the two still in the doorway.

Kurt lights a small fire to keep them warm for the night and they eat protein bars for dinner. They decide on an order to keep watch for the night with Patterson going first. The blonde sits up against the wall and focuses her line of sight out past the headstones as the rest of her team falls asleep. She is hyper aware of Tasha sleeping next to her and she relaxes as she registers the feeling of the brunette’s warmth and steady breathing.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha groans miserably as consciousness creeps up on her. She can hear Kurt’s rumbling voice outside as he does his daily check-in with Mayfair and Reade is snoring somewhere very close by. There is a rock digging into her lower back, so she rolls onto her side to relieve some of the aching pain. Her entire body is stiff and tired from sleeping on the hard ground. Her joints protest as she forces herself into a sitting position and she blearily opens her eyes. Jane is attempting to stoke the fire for breakfast and Patterson is still out cold next to her. She takes a moment to study the blonde’s features as she sleeps and can’t help the feeling of contentment that washes over her. Even though they just spent a cold night on the hard ground, Tasha tells herself she would do it every night if it meant waking up next to Patterson every day.


	10. Rain, Rain, Go Away...

The team huddles around their sputtering fire as they eat bland oatmeal for breakfast again. Kurt is heartily digging in but everyone else is struggling with the taste and texture of the boiled oats. Jane and Patterson are attempting to block out the taste by holding their breaths, whereas Tasha and Reade are pushing through out of sheer nutritional necessity. Tasha forces down her last mouthful with a sigh of relief and takes a moment to tease Reade about the look of disgust on his face.

They have veered away from the river and they have no idea when they will have access to fresh water again, so Tasha wipes her bowl as clean as possible with some leaves so she can put it back in her pack. She is completely over this camping business. Her body aches from sleeping on the ground and she desperately wants to have a hot shower. They are entering their third day of hiking and she is definitely aware of her own body odour now. If these people weren’t her family she’d probably be embarrassed by the state of herself. She has her hair pulled back into a loose braid and she hopes it’s enough to keep it from becoming filthier than it already is.

Kurt smothers the fire and pulls a piece of paper from his pack. It is the single sheet with the name Clara Esther O’Malley printed in block letters. “So I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that this name is also out there somewhere.” He nods his head towards the headstones they can see through the gap in the wall.

Reade frowns at the paper like it has personally offended him. “I am absolutely not digging up some old lady’s grave today.”

Jane snorts a laugh and attempts to smooth down the back of her hair. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

They gather up their gear and leave the packs with Reade at the church. He is keeping lookout as everyone checks the headstones to find Clara O’Malley. Kurt, Jane, Patterson and Tasha split up to search the cemetery and they all admit to themselves that they are definitely creeped out. The whole area is obviously long abandoned and there isn’t a road in any direction that they can see. The grass is knee high and the headstones are crumbling and overgrown. It is deathly silent and there is a chilly breeze that feels like it is bringing a storm their way. Tasha doesn’t feel like much of a religious person but she crosses herself just in case as she moves to uncover the first headstone.

It takes longer than she is proud of to reveal the name etched into the stone, but she had to battle against thorny vines and a decent amount of moss to be able to read Herbert Crocker. She glances over towards her team mates and realises that their progress is as slow as hers. She gets through Welby Smith, Ida Foster, Norma Swan, Elsie McLeod, Horace Wilcox and Neville Crompton before she finds a crumbling stone with O’Malley written on it.

“Guys I think I found something!” Tasha shouts as she pulls vines off the face of the stone. “Never mind, this is Charles O’Malley.”

Jane is closest to her at the moment and she sees the look of disappointment flash across her face before she crouches back down and becomes hidden by the grass.

 Tasha is beginning to feel a chill in the air as she passes by Myra Amos, Cornelius Debreceny, Mavis Barlin and Alma Montague. She looks skyward and frowns at the dark clouds she can see on the horizon. Hopefully it passes them by and they can stay dry.

“I think I found Clara!” Patterson shouts from somewhere across the cemetery.

Tasha, Kurt and Jane all stand up and look in her direction but they are disappointed when she calls out again that she found Clara McPherson and not Clara O’Malley.

Tasha watches as one by one the others drop back into the grass and she stretches her back before doing the same. She uncovers Mervyn Hollis, Beryl Yarnold, Oswald Latimore, Clyde Elliott and Petal Mansbridge before she stops for a water break. It is well into the morning and she can visualise the waves of frustration rolling off Kurt at the moment.

“Damn it!” Jane growls.

“You okay Jane?” Kurt shouts from somewhere further away.

“Yeah. I just found one that has Esther written on it, but it’s Esther Martin.” She says dejectedly.

Tasha picks up her pace as she realises that she only has five headstones left to check in her section and she is excited to be finished. The thorny vines aren’t as thick in this area so she reveals Cyril McLaughlin, Flora Green, Henrietta Manning and Dudley McMaster in record time. She holds her breath as she approaches the last headstone and crouches down in front of it. She wipes the moss off the text and squints to read the worn stone. She huffs in disappointment when she finds Aileen Wass instead of what they are looking for.

She marches back towards Reade to wait for everyone else to finish. She doesn’t have to wait very long before they are all back and shaking their heads because they didn’t find the name they were looking for.

“Well what do we do now?” Reade asks Kurt, hoping that their leader has some answers.

Weller scrubs a hand over the top of his head. “I honestly don’t know. We checked every stone and we don’t have any more clues.”

“Wait!” Patterson shouts “What if we weren’t looking for Clara Esther O’Malley?”

“What do you mean?” Kurt crosses his arms and waits for the blonde to explain.

“Well I found Clara McPherson, Tasha found Charles O’Malley and Jane found Esther Martin. So maybe the clue isn’t one person, but three.” Patterson is gesticulating wildly with her hands and her enthusiasm is spreading to everyone else.

“So we’ll go check if there’s anything special about those three headstones. Good thinking Patterson.” Kurt indicates for the blonde to lead him to the headstone that she found while Tasha and Jane jog off towards the ones they found.

Tasha reaches Charles O’Malley’s headstone and immediately starts pulling more of the thorny vines away from the base to see if there is anything there that she missed. After a thorough search she finds absolutely nothing that could be considered a clue and she stands up in defeat. Jane and Patterson shout that they didn’t find anything either. Tasha wants to scream in frustration because she hates the idea of getting stuck in this place because they can’t work it out.

“Wait! Tasha, Jane, stay right where you are.” Patterson calls out before she jogs back up the small hill towards the church.

Tasha has no idea what the blonde seems to have realised but she will happily wait and let her figure it out. Jane looks as confused as she feels and it makes her feel somewhat better that she isn’t the only one in the dark.

Tasha, Jane and Kurt all watch as Patterson points to each of them in turn and then fist pumps the air in excitement. Reade looks pretty pumped as well so Tasha feels pretty confident that the blonde has worked it out.

Patterson jogs back towards Kurt and starts counting out steps between him and Jane, then from the tattooed woman to Tasha and back to Kurt. Once she reaches Kurt again she must tell him what she has worked out because he grins proudly at her and Tasha is desperate to know what it is that the blonde has discovered.

“It’s an equilateral triangle! Just give me a second to work out the math to find the centre.” Patterson shouts so that Tasha and Jane can understand what she is doing.

Tasha wants to slap herself with how obvious it is, now that she knows what she is looking at. She is standing the exact distance away from both Kurt and Jane. Patterson is counting steps towards the centre of the triangle and soon enough she comes to a stop and gestures them all over.

“The exact centre of the triangle should be right where I’m standing.” Patterson points excitedly towards her feet.

“Good work Patterson.” Kurt picks up a sturdy stick and starts digging where the blonde indicated and he quickly uncovers a sturdy wooden box.

Kurt carries the box back up the hill and they all grin ecstatically when he opens it up. He pulls out two sets of binoculars, five large knives, a sealed envelope and a clear plastic graph sheet. They each take a knife, Reade stores the binoculars in his pack and Patterson examines the stiff plastic as Tasha opens the envelope.

“Hey Weller, can I have the map for a second?” the blonde holds out a hand expectantly and he pulls out the map and unfolds it.

Patterson holds the face of the map to the underside of the plastic and grins triumphantly. The plastic sheet contains all of the man-made landmarks that the original map was lacking. It also has their target location clearly marked and labelled. Reade crushes everyone into a group hug because he is so excited and Tasha finds herself pressed tightly against Patterson. She can feel a blush burning its way up her neck and she kind of wants to punch the taller man for doing this to her. Eventually they all break apart and Tasha clears her throat awkwardly.

“So we finally know what it is we’re doing out here.” The brunette holds up the two sheets of paper that she pulled from the envelope. The team crowds around her again as they all go through the information together. The first sheet of paper is a photograph of a fierce looking brunette with her hair pulled back into a harsh bun. The second sheet of paper labels the mystery brunette as Nas Kamal, NSA official and currently being held hostage in what looks to be a CIA black-site. Their mission is to infiltrate the base and extract Agent Kamal without any team casualties and return her safely to the warehouse that they started at.

Kurt takes the map from Patterson and determines the direction they have to go. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I have never been so glad to leave a place as I am right now!” Reade cheers as they finally leave the dilapidated church.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha cringes as another strong gust of wind barrels overhead, pulling at her hair and chilling her down to the bone. Kurt has set a gruelling pace throughout the afternoon but they are all tiring and the bitter cold is eating away at their resolve. The clouds that Tasha had been wary of that morning are now looming overhead and they are all fearful of being caught in the storm. Kurt is currently aiming them towards a dense tree line where he believes they will be able to find some kind of shelter before the sky opens up and attempts to drown them.

The crackling of the radio strapped to Kurt’s hip startles Tasha and it takes her a second to realise that Mayfair is attempting to reach them. That can only mean bad news because the Director is not supposed to initiate any of their communications; she is only meant to be available to answer any questions the team might have.

“Weller, can you hear me?”

Kurt unhooks the radio from his belt. “Yeah I can hear you.”

“You need to get out of the storm! You need to find shelter and keep your head down until it passes.” Mayfair sounds concerned, even through the static of the radio.

“We’re hoping to find some cover once we reach the trees.” Kurt scans ahead trying to determine which area of the forest might provide the best cover.

“See that you do. It’s too late to send out a rescue team and until this blows over I’m afraid you’re going to be on your own out there. You can expect gale force winds and flash flooding but it should only last for a day or two at the most.” Mayfair warns them grimly.

“Roger that. I’ll let you know when we find cover.” Kurt clips the radio back to his belt and, without needing to verbally communicate, he starts the team at a fast jog as lightning starts arcing through the rapidly darkening sky.

They come crashing into the undergrowth as the first drops of rain start to fall. Everyone is keeping their eyes peeled for something that could potentially be made into a shelter and Tasha is starting to feel the first tendrils of genuine panic clawing at her chest. She did not sign up for this. If they don’t find cover and they get caught in the storm someone could get hurt or even killed and this was not supposed to happen. It is a freak storm that built up fast and it is going to cause a lot of damage before it dies down again. Jane suddenly veers off to the right ahead of Tasha and the brunette attempts to shield her eyes from the rain to see where the tattooed woman is going. The team all scramble to follow her up a small embankment and Reade cheers when she pulls aside some dead branches to reveal a small stone cave. Not a single one of them will be able to stand up straight in it and they will be packed in close together but it is three solid walls and a roof, which is more than they could have possibly hoped for.

Kurt quickly assigns them tasks and once they throw their packs in the cave they rush to find what they need. Tasha, Patterson and Jane are rapidly collecting all of the wood they can find, that is still somewhat dry and packing it up one side of the cave. Reade and Weller are using their knives to cut branches and lashing them together to make a fourth wall and seal off the cave from the elements. Once they have the branches secured everyone starts threading leafy foliage over the top in layers to somewhat waterproof the wall. The wind is absolutely howling by the time they finish and the rain has them completely soaked. They crawl one by one into the cave, through the gap they left in the wall and attempt to wipe off some of the water that has gathered on their bodies.

Jane starts stacking sticks inside a small stone circle near the face of the cave while Kurt calls in their status to Mayfair. The Director is immensely relieved that they managed to find such a secure place to wait out the storm and asks Kurt to report in every few hours so she knows that they are alright. Jane pulls some dry kindling out of her back pack and focusses on getting the fire started. It takes a few attempts because everything is slightly damp but she eventually succeeds and they all cheer at the warmth that immediately spreads over their skin.

Once everyone settles down and gets somewhat comfortable they pull out the contents of their backpacks and start rationing supplies. Tasha stares in dismay at how little food they have left between them. They will definitely be going hungry for the next few days. The only consolation is knowing that they have plenty of water available while they are trapped here. They plan for the worst case scenario and pack their meagre supplies back into their bags and brace themselves for the cold, wet and miserable night ahead of them. They will be taking turns watching over the fire throughout the night because if it goes out they could be in a lot of trouble. Reade draws first watch and they all huddle together for warmth as they drift off into a restless sleep fuelled by exhaustion.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha is slowly and reverently unwrapping her bland protein bar for lunch. It will be the last thing she eats for a fair while and she wants to savour it for as long as possible. She nibbles the smallest possible pieces off the bar and groans in delight at how satisfying it feels to eat something. It is only the fourth day of their mission but between the gruelling physical demand she has been putting on her body and the meagre food rations, she can feel the toll it is all starting to take.

They are all slouching miserably in the cave as the storms rages outside. The cloud cover is so dense that it is dark outside even though it is the middle of the day. Periodically lightning will strike, lighting up the cave and throwing their gaunt faces into sharp relief. The lightning is always followed by thunder crashing loudly through the sky and rattling everything around them. They are startled out of their silent musings by a thunderous crack as lightning strikes very close to their shelter. There is a brief second of deafening silence that follows that makes Tasha feel like the world temporarily stopped spinning. That thought is quickly forgotten as time seems to speed up as a tree not far from them comes crashing to the ground, bringing surrounding trees down as well. It starts as a loud groaning noise followed by terrifyingly loud crashing noises that make the ground shake and their bones rattle.

“You know, I didn’t think I could possibly be more scared than sleeping in a haunted graveyard, but here we are.” Reade mutters miserably.

Patterson laughs but it sounds strained and slightly hysterical. “I kind of wish we were still there.”

 

* * *

 

 

After spending a full day and another long, sleepless night in their cave the storm finally breaks and Mayfair confirms that it has passed them by. They crawl slowly out of the cave and survey the devastation left behind by the storm. There is a fallen tree about two hundred metres from the cave and broken branches are scattered everywhere. Reade whistles in surprise at how much carnage surrounds them, breaking the eerie silence. Tasha stretches her spine and groans in relief as it pops back to where it is supposed to be. Spending nearly forty-eight hours slouched in a stone cave has not done her aching body any favours.

 Kurt checks the map once again and is surprised to find that they didn’t end up too far off course as they were looking for shelter. Barring any more incidences he thinks they should reach their target by the afternoon. He pulls out the radio to tell Mayfair that they are finally moving out from this position and to gather any intelligence she may be able to provide.

“Director Mayfair, are you there?”

“I’m here Agent Weller. Is everyone alright?” her voice cuts through the still air as everyone gathers around Kurt.

“Aside from being hungry we are all physically fine. We are short on food rations but we should hit our target this afternoon so hopefully we can find some food there.” Kurt grins hopefully at his team.

“That is very good to hear. Others weren’t as lucky as you and I’ll admit I was concerned.” Mayfair’s relief is palpable, even as just a voice on the radio.

“What happened?” Kurt asks, ever concerned about the welfare of others.

“The NSA team got caught out in the open when the storm hit and had to be evacuated. They have been disqualified. Homeland Security had an Agent slip down an embankment and break his leg so they are a man short and two DEA agents have been air-lifted out with hypothermia.” She states matter-of-factly.

Kurt sighs sympathetically “Well I’m letting you know that we are back on the move and I’ll radio again when we reach our target.”

“Thank you Agent Weller.”

Kurt puts the radio away and pulls out the compass. “Let’s get out of here. Hopefully by this time tomorrow this will all be over.”

The thought of finishing the mission has given everyone a last boost of energy and they eagerly follow Kurt through the trees. Patterson is ahead of Tasha and she trips on a fallen branch, so the brunette rushes forward to help steady her. She grabs the blonde’s hand and pulls her upright smiling at the light blush dusting her cheeks. They keep walking and neither of them mentions how their hands are still clasped together.

Jane and Reade are walking at the tail end of the group and both of them are grinning manically at the sight of their friends holding hands, but neither of them want to break the peaceful spell that has settled over the team so they remain quiet, content to bask in the progress the women ahead of them seem to be making.


	11. One More Day

Kurt lies silently in the bushes watching the front door to the unassuming building that they know is the CIA black-site. It is a nondescript warehouse sized building surrounded by towering security fences. Beyond the fences dense forest keeps the black-site completely hidden from the outside world. There is a single meandering road that leads to and from the facility and no patrols from what they have seen. They have lapped the perimeter twice since they arrived and only found one weak spot in the fence. It looks like the storm brought down a tree that has damaged a panel of the fence and there is a tiny gap between the bottom of the wire mesh and the muddy ground beneath it. The building itself only has four access points. A garage area that links directly to the road, with cars parked outside and a large roller door for access. Around the corner from there is, what they think is the main access point, because it is a double door with well-worn tracks leading in and out. There are also two doors that look like they are only used as emergency exits because the grass around one is long and there is a bush nearly obscuring the other.

The plan they have so far is risky and Kurt would ideally like to have more time to strategize, but they are all exhausted and the longer they drag this out, the worse it could end up going for them. It is almost dark and they will soon be splitting into two teams, ready to put the plan into action. Jane and Tasha are the smallest so they will be squeezing under the gap in the fence and going for the garage because it seems to have the most security. They will draw the fire of the people guarding the facility while Patterson, Reade and himself break into the back door under the cover of the bush because it blocks the view of the camera so, in theory, they should have some time before anyone realises they have breached the facility. Reade and he will provide cover for Patterson while she hacks into their system and finds Nas Kamal, then hopefully they can regroup with Jane and Tasha somewhere along the way.

They don’t have any comms so they are using the break of dawn as their starting point, but first they need to get in position without being discovered. Once darkness settles in Reade scales the fence at the rear side of the facility and uses his jacket to cover the barbed wire and drops to the other side. They all hold their breath but the night remains eerily silent and no alarms are raised. Kurt helps boost Patterson over next and she crouches in the long grass next to Reade and waits for him to join them.

Kurt turns towards the two women left on this side of the fence with him. “Hopefully this will all be over tomorrow. Go over it one more time with me.”

“We’ll take the back packs and stash them near the road as we go past tonight, then at dawn tomorrow we’ll crawl through a mud pit and draw the fire of hopefully everyone in the facility. Best case scenario; we don’t get killed.” Tasha grins at her boss and he laughs at her succinct explanation.

“Alright then. It’s on you two now, we’ll be waiting.” Kurt turns and scales the fence quickly, pulling Reade’s jacket down with him.

“Good luck once you get inside. It doesn’t look like there are many people here but we’ll do our best to draw their attention.” Jane whispers through the fence.

“See you on the other side.” Reade whispers back.

 

* * *

 

Tasha and Jane watch as the rest of the team disappear into the long grass and quickly gather up all of the back packs. They walk briskly and in silence until they reach the road and hide all of the packs under some bushes. They strap on their weapons and take a last long drink of water before moving on. They have some difficulty navigating through the forest at night and it takes them longer than anticipated to reach their hiding place. They huddle together to ward off the cold wind with their backs pressed against a fallen tree. There are still around five hours until dawn so they take turns napping uncomfortably.

Tasha is roused from her sleep about an hour before dawn and she rubs her face grumpily, attempting to wake herself up. Jane chuckles at her and Tasha glares because how dare she be this happy when it is so cold, they are so hungry and her ass is completely asleep.

“I will hit you if you don’t stop smiling at me.” Tasha grumbles through a yawn.

“And here I thought that of the two of us, you were the morning person.” Jane chuckles.

“Shut up.” Tasha shoves the tattooed woman good-naturedly.

Jane stretches and her joints pop and groan in protest. “We might get to have a hot shower and a proper meal today.” She says wistfully.

“But first we have to survive the day.” Tasha stands up and stretches herself. “Come on, we’d better go get ready.”

Jane jumps up and together they make their way down into a small gully that will lead them up towards where they are going to breach the fence. The after effects of the storm are still fully present as they are walking in ankle deep muddy water, which would have usually been dry land. The water is ice cold and they both fight off the involuntary shivers that it causes. They stop at the edge of the tree line which is about one hundred metres from the fence and drop to their knees in the deep mud. Once they move from this position they will easily be seen by anyone looking in this direction so they have to camouflage themselves as well as possible. If they are seen before they make it through the fence they will easily be caught and their raid will fail. With a deep breath and a steely resolve Jane flops face first into the mud and Tasha has to bite back a laugh at how graceless the taller woman is acting.

Jane rolls onto her back and grins at Tasha “I figured this way seemed pretty efficient.”

The shorter brunette rolls her eyes at her companion and starts scooping mud up with her hands and efficiently covers herself with it. “God this had better work because I am freezing.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be running, sweating and full of adrenaline soon enough.” Jane states as she drags herself out of the mud.

They pick up their guns from where they sat them away from the mud and wait anxiously for the sun to break across the horizon. The sky becomes hazy with the light of pre-dawn and they move quickly to the fence. Jane squeezes herself under the mesh and takes a protective stance so that Tasha can come through behind her. The shorter woman presses herself deep into the mud and drags herself under the wire and grins at Jane when she makes it through soundlessly. Dawn breaks fully as they make their way across the open lawn in a low crouch. They reach the side of the building and stop in a blind spot between the cameras. Kurt and his team should be at the rear door by now, waiting for the distraction.

“I didn’t think we’d make it this far without being seen. What do we do?” Jane whispers.

“We could attempt to steal a car or we could attempt to breach. Personally I think it would be suspicious if we don’t try to breach because they might wonder why.” Tasha whispers back.

“Breach it is then.” Jane nods matter-of-factly and jogs towards the small door that is situated next to the roller door with Tasha hot on her heels.

They count down from three and together they kick in the door and enter with their guns raised. Forcing the door causes an immediate chain reaction. Red lights start flashing and a loud wailing alarm starts blaring throughout the facility. They only have a moment to orient themselves in the room before guards start swarming towards them. They shoot the first two men through the door and the paint splashes bright and orange against their chests signalling their ‘deaths’. The simulation is designed to be as realistic as possible so the dead guards lie down where they were shot and stay very still. They make a break towards the cars parked in the garage to use them for cover, firing at more guards as they appear. Paint is exploding in a rainbow of colours over their heads and if the situation wasn’t so serious Tasha would admire the kaleidoscope happening around her. They kill four more guards before they become wary of the women shooting at them.

Jane curses as the enemy retreat into the next room because it’s clear that the agents want them to move from their current position and expose themselves. Tasha shares a look with Jane that conveys her annoyance with this development and she is about move when she spies something behind the taller woman’s head. There is a bench behind her with more paint weapons and ammunition and they share a devilish grin at the find.

Tasha arms herself with a paint shot gun and Jane takes an assault rifle. They both fill their pockets with paint grenades and as much ammunition that they can carry.

“Let’s go.” Tasha smirks as she pulls the rings from two grenades and tosses them through the open doorway into the next room.

Jane laughs and storms into the room after the blast to find three more dead agents. She shoots two others and they move further into the facility drawing fire from all sides and causing a general ruckus. They find themselves in a large open workroom taking heavy fire while they hide behind an overturned table. They toss grenades and fire sporadically at the agents hidden throughout the room. Somehow they are slowly advancing on their enemy.

There is a shout of surprise from the other side of the room and Jane peeks her head out to see what is happening. Her eyes widen in alarm as she spots Kurt leading Patterson, Reade and Nas Kamal along the wall behind overturned furniture. They are clearly low on ammo because they are only firing when it is absolutely necessary and Kurt looks grim. She pulls her head in as a paintball goes flying past and informs Tasha of what is happening.

“Cover me.” Tasha demands as she prepares another paint grenade.

“Always.” Jane grins and reloads her rifle.

Tasha hurls the grenade towards a group of agents huddled far away from the rest of her team and sprints from behind the table firing her shot gun. Jane is methodically taking out the agents that expose themselves trying to hit Tasha and the shorter brunette quickly reaches the rest of their team. Tasha rapidly empties her pockets and everyone snatches up ammunition and reloads their weapons.

“Now this is a fair fight.” Reade laughs as he tosses a paint grenade.

“We need to get back to Jane. We’ve cleared the hallway back to the garage and we can take a car and escape.” Tasha urgently informs everyone else.

Kurt nods at the information. “On my count then.” Everyone braces themselves to run. “Three…Two…One!”

They all break from cover and sprint for the doorway behind Jane as the tattooed woman covers them. Nas is alarmingly barefoot but she is fast and Tasha does her best to keep herself between Nas and the few agents that are still firing at them.

Jane backs through the doorway after them and they all follow Tasha back to the garage. Reade marvels at the explosions of colour splattered along all of the walls as they pass.

Kurt finds the keys to one of the cars and they all pile in as the garage door automatically opens. He speeds out of the garage and goes crashing through the gate in the fence and they all cheer as they leave the facility behind. He stops and Jane jumps out and throws their hidden back packs in the back of the car. She hops back in the front and Kurt quickly gets them moving again.

“Okay I’m not complaining or anything but how come you guys got all the cool weapons?” Reade nudges Tasha as he points to the shot gun.

“It was a trade-off for having to bathe in mud.” She smirks back at him.

“Now that you’ve brought that up… You guys really went for it huh. Is there any part of you that isn’t caked in mud?” Reade wrinkles his nose at all of the bits of Tasha that are currently pressed against him. This car was not designed to have four grown adults squished in the back seat.

“Nope!” Jane laughs from the front of the car.

They all laugh and cheer from excitement because they are finally on their way home with a near perfect run.

Tasha turns to the woman next to her dressed in a pair of sweat pants and loose T-shirt and holds out a dirty hand to shake. “Tasha Zapata.”

“It’s a pleasure. I’m Nas Kamal. Although you should know that already.” She raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at the filthy woman sitting next to her and smirks as she shakes her hand.

Tasha likes this woman already. She is barefoot and dressed in what is essentially pyjamas but she has an air of authority that just screams ‘fuck with me, I dare you.’

“Apologies for looking like a swamp creature, but it was necessary to save your life and all that.” Tasha smirks good-naturedly.

“And I appreciate that.” Nas laughs before turning her attention to Kurt. “How long until we arrive?”

“I’d say around half an hour or so.” Kurt beams in excitement.

“Do you think they’ll have food there?” Reade’s question is backed by the loud rumble of his stomach which prompts more laughter from his companions.

 Tasha realises that Patterson has been alarmingly quiet for the drive so far and she glances past Nas to find her asleep with her face pressed against the window. She can’t help the fond look that sweeps over her face at the sight and she kind of wishes that she could swap places with Nas so she could brush the hair back off the blonde’s face. She becomes aware that both Nas and Reade are watching her watch Patterson sleep and she forces herself to face the road and curses the embarrassed blush that flares into her cheeks. It is the first time all day that she has been thankful for the thick layer of mud caking her body because it hides the red tinting her face and neck.   

They make themselves as comfortable as possible for the long drive back to base and fight the growing waves of exhaustion sweeping over them now that the adrenaline is wearing off.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha jolts forward as she wakes up from her short nap. Reade is still passed out beside her and it takes her a second to work out where they are. Still disorientated she licks her dry lips and gags in surprise at the mud she draws into her mouth. Nas chuckles on her other side and Tasha raises a challenging eyebrow at the woman calmly sitting next to her.

“Sleep well Agent Zapata?” Nas drawls at the muddy woman.

Tasha smirks back at her and then promptly ignores her, choosing instead to lean forward and ask Kurt how far away they are from the base.

“No more than five minutes. You should probably wake up Patterson and Reade now.” Kurt grins into the rear view mirror at his dishevelled team mate.

Tasha grins back and pinches her fingers over Reade’s nose making him gasp and startle awake.

“Man! What’s wrong with waking someone up the normal way? Oh no, you’ve gotta try to give me a heart attack.” He shakes his head as Tasha laughs heartily.

The commotion wakes up Patterson and she blearily rubs her eyes as they pull into the parking lot next to the warehouse where they started. Mayfair strides out the door to meet them and Tasha doesn’t think she’s ever seen the older woman smile this much before. Kurt kills the engine and they all stumble out of the car to greet her, the exhaustion now lying heavily in their bones.

“Come inside you all look terrible. We have food and drinks and hot showers for you all.” Mayfair ushers them through the door before pulling Nas aside to introduce herself.

Reade runs to the food table and immediately picks up a fresh sandwich. He takes a large bite and groans in pleasure. “This is the most amazing thing I have ever eaten in my life.”

They all group in around the table and eat as much food as they can stomach, to the utter delight of the older woman that made everything. She happily putters around the table offering them bits and pieces of different things and when they are full to bursting she shuffles them off towards the showers.

The showers are just open stalls in a large room but they are fully stocked with soaps, shampoo and conditioner. They methodically strip and claim their stalls and once the hot water is cascading over their tired bodies they finally start to relax and scrub all of the filth away. In Tasha and Jane’s case the water runs completely brown for a while and it takes a decent amount of scrubbing.

Eventually they are all dressed in the clothes that they came in and they head back out to the assembly area to speak to Mayfair and the man in charge. They run through a quick debrief and Mayfair beams proudly at her people and commends them for a job well done. They weren’t the first team back but they are the only team that successfully completed their mission and with zero casualties.

Finally they take their win and Mayfair piles them into an SUV to drive them back to the city. They are all asleep within minutes of leaving the warehouse.

 

* * *

 

 

Two days after the team re-joins civilization Tasha gets a text from Reade informing her that they are going out for drinks that night. They have all taken the time to rest at home since they’ve been back and everyone is keen to celebrate their victory. She takes a quick shower that afternoon and takes the time to do her hair and make-up before dressing in a casual outfit of tight, dark jeans and a loose shirt.

Tasha walks into the bar and is immediately enveloped in Reade’s strong arms. “Everyone smells so good!” he crows in delight.

She shoves him away after the hug lingers too long and laughs. “It is nice to have access to soap and deodorant again.”

They head to the bar and get their drinks before making their way to a booth near the back wall where Patterson, Jane and Kurt are waiting. They all pull Tasha in for a hug and she swears the world stops spinning for a second when Patterson pulls her in close and hugs her just a little too tight.

Kurt is happily sipping from his drink as he observes his family. He watches in confusion as Patterson and Tasha hold on to each other, both tense and a little bit desperate at the same time. Adding to his confusion are Jane and Reade, who are positively giddy while they watch the women. Somethings up. He makes a note to himself to ask Jane about it later, but for now he is happy to revel in the fact that they are finally home.


	12. Booze and Bruises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry once again for the delay. Life, you know?  
> I promise we are so close to the ladies working it out.  
> Slight TW for this chapter - the word slut is thrown out there and there's a tiny bit of blood.  
> Anyway here it is! Enjoy :)

Tasha is currently three sheets to the wind and getting her ass handed to her by Jane in a game of darts. Reade is teasing and hollering in delight and she is seriously considering throwing a dart at him. The only thing stopping her is Patterson’s bright, tinkling laugh that accompanies the teasing. Hearing Patterson laugh makes her feel all warm and bubbly inside and she can’t imagine going a single day in her life without hearing that sound.

She downs the last of her drink and places the glass back on their table as Kurt takes her place in front of the dart board. After checking with everyone she heads over to the bar to buy the next round and commends herself for only stumbling once. Tasha leans heavily against the solid bar and catches the attention of the bartender with a small wave. She places her order with the small redhead and startles when Reade throws an arm across her shoulders.

“What are you doing?” she grumbles good-naturedly at her friend, but she makes no move to dislodge the offending appendage.

“I’m having such a great time. I’m clean and full of food and there is not a single tree in sight.” Reade grins deliriously and Tasha can’t help the small laugh that escapes, because yeah. She completely agrees with him.

The redhead places a tray of their drinks in front of them and Tasha hands over some cash as Reade takes off with the tray. Tasha thanks the bartender and moves to go back to her friends but she bumps into an incredibly tall man that is blocking her path.  

“Oh sorry, excuse me.” Tasha makes to move around him but he grabs her arm and she freezes in discomfort.

“What’s a pretty little thing like you doing here by yourself?” He leers at her and she recoils at the stench of his breath.

“I’m not by myself. I’m here with friends. Now let me go.” The brunette grits her teeth and levels him with a glare that would have most sane humans backing up in fear.

Clearly this man doesn’t register the threat because he pulls her in closer and sniffs her hair. “Don’t be like that. I could show you such a good time.” Tasha shudders in disgust as he runs a hand down her waist to grab at her backside.

Before Tasha has a chance to break his hand he stumbles backwards and the brunette realises Patterson pulled him back by his greasy pony tail.

“She said back off!” the blonde growls furiously at the man as Tasha takes his moment of distraction to shove him away.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. She wants me.” He states confidently and leers at Tasha again.

The brunette huffs out a shocked laugh. “I wouldn’t sleep with you even if it would cure cancer.” She grabs Patterson’s hand and moves to walk away.

His face twists into something dark and cruel “You won’t do better than me you useless slut.” he growls.

The words hit Tasha somewhere in her gut and before she even has a chance to process exactly how she feels about it, Patterson is wrenching her hand out of the brunette’s grip and spinning towards the Neanderthal. Tasha feels like she is watching in slow motion as the blonde pulls her fist back and lands a punch square across his nose. He recoils back and his nose is clearly broken with blood trickling down his face.

“What the fuck?!” he growls and takes a swing at Patterson but Kurt steps in and blocks her from harm. Tasha watches in a kind of muted horror as another man tackles Kurt from the side and Reade has to jump in to protect his fallen comrade. Soon enough a good portion of the bar is brawling and there are bottles flying and Tasha is pulling a tall, muscled woman off Patterson as someone else is yanking her hair. She can’t help but wonder in her drunken state, how exactly they ended up in this situation.

The wailing of sirens in the distance has people quickly evacuating the bar and Jane is dragging both Patterson and herself out the door towards Kurt and Reade. Jane’s house isn’t too far from the bar and they jog in that direction to avoid any questions they possibly might not be able to answer. They file into Jane’s living room out of breath, slightly sweaty and the tattooed woman swings the door shut behind them.

Patterson flops onto the couch and Reade hustles towards the bathroom and soon enough the team can hear him heaving from down the hall. Kurt swears and goes to make sure he is alright. Jane goes to the kitchen and starts rustling through cupboards. The tattooed woman comes back with an armload of snacks and bottles of water and haphazardly stacks them on the coffee table. She retreats to the kitchen once more and comes back with ice packs in various shapes and sizes. She gives two of them to Patterson, one for her hand and one for what will be a considerable black eye in the morning. The blonde leans back and groans as she places the biggest ice pack across her face.

Kurt and Reade come back from the bathroom and both flop down on the couch next to Patterson and accept ice packs for their bumps and bruises. They both happily take the water that Jane passes them and Kurt gulps his down.

“You feeling okay Reade?” Jane asks quietly and looks relieved when he nods.

“Yeah. As it turns out, I can’t run when I have that much alcohol in me. It does not sit well.” He lets out a strained laugh and Jane chuckles in agreement before patting his arm and straitening up.

The tattooed woman seems to realise at this moment that Tasha hasn’t moved from the edge of the living room since they came inside and she approaches her slowly. “Tasha are you okay?” she studies the shorter woman’s hunched stance and gently takes her hands. “Come and sit down, you’re shaking.”

Tasha didn’t even register how violently her body was trembling until Jane pointed it out. She takes a deep, shuddering breath and raises her face to look at her taller friend. The concern and care she can see written across her face makes something inside of Tasha, that had frozen back at the bar, crumble and she bursts into tears. Jane quickly pulls her into a tight hug and Tasha tucks her face into the taller woman’s shoulder and sobs in a way she didn’t know she was capable of. She desperately tries to reign in her tears but they keep flowing and she keeps shaking and Jane stands strong and holds her up. Patterson wraps an arm around her and hugs her from one side and Reade covers the other side. Kurt hugs her from behind and his arms wrap right around the group and they all stand in solidarity and silence until Tasha’s tears stop flowing and she feels kind of foolish. There is something about the group hug that makes her feel safe and supported in a way that she doesn’t think she’s ever had before and she knows in her heart that no-one here will judge her for this moment of weakness.

They break apart and make their way back to the couches. Tasha is guided onto the long couch and Reade and Patterson sit on either side of her, each holding one of her hands, while Jane and Kurt take the two remaining single seaters.

“So are we gonna talk about the fact that Patterson started a bar fight? Or are we gonna keep pretending that she’s a harmless ball of sunshine, because she definitely broke that guy’s nose.” Reade breaks the awkward silence with a pointed smirk in Patterson’s direction.

Tasha takes her hand back from Reade and wipes her cheeks as she starts to laugh. It becomes contagious as Jane and Kurt join in and soon enough they are all laughing hysterically as the last of the shock and adrenaline of the night wears off.

“Guys I’m being serious! What gives Patterson?” Reade throws his hands up in confusion as the laughter dies down.

“Actually I’m pretty curious as to what provokes Patterson to start throwing punches.” Jane grabs a bag of chips and leans back in her chair, waiting for the story to unfold.

Patterson blushes at the sudden attention and averts her eyes, but a nudge from the brunette next to her tells her that she’s okay with the blonde telling the story.

“You sure?” she double checks with Tasha to make sure that she is genuinely comfortable with the rest of their team hearing what happened and her small nod prompts her to speak. “The gross guy with the pony tail was hitting on Tasha at the bar and I could see that she wasn’t into it, but I know that Tasha can handle herself so I didn’t rush over, but he was holding onto her so I thought I’d better go over for back up.”

Reade and Jane are subtly staring wide-eyed at the women on the couch and then at each other as the blonde speaks. Kurt leans forward and clasps his hands together, his brow furrowed as the story progresses. Tasha’s breathing is a bit too shallow but no-one seems to notice as they wait for Patterson to keep going with the tale. The blonde takes a fortifying breath and looks to Tasha again for reassurance that she is okay. The brunette gives her hand a gentle squeeze and Patterson continues.

“Anyway, I was almost there when he pulled her in and grabbed her…” Patterson blushes furiously “…Butt.”

“What?! He fucking touched you?” Reade jumps up from the couch, furious at the audacity of that creep for touching his sister. Before he has a chance to go hunt him down, Tasha pulls him back down and holds tightly to his hand, so he sits and silently fumes.

“Yeah, I was pretty mad but Tasha wanted to go, so I let that slide.” Patterson is shaking with fury as she recalls the events of the night. “We were almost away when he said it…”

“Said what?” Jane breathes into the tense silence.

“He called Tasha a useless slut.” Patterson whispers disgusted with herself for even repeating it, even more so when she feels the brunette recoil at the word.

“If I had known any of that I would have hit him so much harder. Good work Patterson.” Kurt growls breaking the shocked silence that formed around their small group.

“Guys I appreciate this, but I’m okay. I promise.” Tasha feels warmth in her chest knowing that these people truly have her back regardless of what happens and it forces the first genuine smile onto her face since everything happened.

Soon enough they call it a night and they all go home to rest, process everything that happened and treat their various bumps and bruises.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha curses and thrashes as she attempts to untangle herself from her sheets to answer her phone. She finally manages to free an arm and reaches for the bedside table as her phone stops ringing. She curses again and drags it back into her blanket fortress and it starts blaring its ringtone far too loudly at her again. She answers it blearily and takes in enough information to know she is being called in to work. She confirms that she is on her way and hangs up. She squints at the brightness of her screen and curses yet again when she realises that it is six o’clock on a Sunday morning and she is definitely hung over. With a steely resolve she throws back her blankets and makes her way to the shower, absolutely dreading the day ahead of her.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha makes it to the office at a quarter past seven and she mentally congratulates herself on making such good time. She catches Reade at the elevator and he looks absolutely miserable, clutching a large coffee in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. They ride the elevator in silence both sipping occasionally from their coffees. They enter the briefing room and Tasha double takes at the bruises her friends are sporting after last night. Kurt has a large dark lump protruding from his forehead and his knuckles are split and swollen. Jane has a deep purple bruise splashed across her jawline, a split lip and she is sporting dark sunglasses, presumably for her hangover. Patterson is face down on the desk and Tasha is pretty certain that the blonde is asleep.

Tasha takes a seat next to Patterson and Reade gracelessly flops down next to her. They mutter greetings to each other and soon enough Mayfair comes striding into the room. The older woman pauses at the state her team is in and cocks her head in confusion. Before anyone has a chance to explain she holds up a hand and states “I don’t even want to know, so spare me the details please.”

Mayfair passes around folders and Tasha nudges Patterson awake. The blonde jerks up muttering something about a project and her hair is floating wildly around her face. Mayfair gasps in surprise and Tasha sees why when Patterson brushes her hair away from her face. The blonde has a massive, dark bruise spreading right across her eye and halfway down her cheek. It looks awful contrasted against her fair skin and Tasha cringes in sympathy.

“Should I know what happened?” Mayfair looks genuinely concerned at the state of the blonde.

“It’s probably best if you don’t. It is resolved at least, so it won’t be a continuing issue.” Kurt states from the head of the table. Mayfair looks relieved at that and takes a seat for herself.

The door opens again and they all grin in surprise at the woman striding into the room. “I believe you all remember Nas Kamal from the NSA.” Mayfair smirks.

“You all look terrible. Do you all get around looking like this all the time or is it just for when I’m here?” Nas grins at the team and everyone chuckles at her observation.

“Yeah, okay we get it. We’ll make sure we up our game for you.” Kurt grins and holds out a hand for one of the folders Nas is holding.

“That’s all I ask.” Nas laughs as she finishes passing out her folders.

Kurt’s eyes light up as he flips his folder open. “What have you got for us?”

Nas takes a seat next to Mayfair and flips open her own folder. “So this is what we have so far…”

Tasha tries to focus on what Nas is saying but the words in front of her are swimming, her head is starting to throb and she is suddenly aware of Patterson’s perfume floating close by. She takes a deep breath and uses the scent to center herself and she subtly leans closer to the blonde. She notices Reade is grinning at her and she sneakily flips him the bird. God she loves these people.


	13. Misunderstandings and Inevitabilities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so much longer than I had planned because I wanted to get this right. Hopefully you like it!  
> Also I feel like at this point I can't promise a fast update because we all know that would be a lie xo

Nas Kamal has become a regular sight around the office these last few weeks. They have been working night and day on the case she brought them and no-one has had a full night of sleep in so long that they are all getting slightly delirious. They know that the case is about to be broken wide open and they are filtering through information with a renewed vigour in the hope that they will be able to close it soon.

Tasha has been out in the field with Reade so much that she has barely stepped foot in the office in the past fortnight. This means that she hasn’t seen Patterson in that long either and the forced distance has done absolutely nothing to diminish the feelings she has for the blonde. They have been called back to the office because Nas and Patterson cracked a code on an encrypted file and apparently it is crucial. Tasha and Reade run into Jane in the parking lot and they all walk up together.

The elevator opens onto their floor and they make their way towards Patterson’s office. Reade and Jane subtly drop back and let Tasha go ahead so she’ll have a moment alone with the blonde before the mad rush of the case sweeps them away again. Reade and Jane are huddled together watching the two women in the office both brighten at the sight of the other and quietly debating ways of setting them up without them getting suspicious. They are so focussed on making sure that Tasha and Patterson don’t realise they are being watched that they fail to realise that Nas has walked right up behind them.

“What are we whispering about?” Nas leans in conspiratorially behind the two scheming agents.

Reade is so startled that he shrieks and they both recoil away from Nas who is now chuckling at how startled these highly trained agents are. Jane is clutching her chest to calm her racing heartbeat and it only takes a second for her to realise that the entire office is eerily silent.  She quickly glances around and cringes at the realisation that everyone, including Tasha and Patterson, are staring at them in confusion. Reade seems to become aware of this at the same time and they both shuffle into Patterson’s office, embarrassment colouring their features. Nas follows them still chuckling and pulls the door closed behind them. She informs them that Kurt is in a meeting with Mayfair and they are to start the briefing without him.

Nas and Patterson bring them all up to speed and Kurt joins them in time to go over their plan to apprehend their suspects. Once they finalise the details Kurt rushes off to inform Mayfair of the final plan, Patterson takes off to round up her team of assistants from wherever they have wandered off to and Tasha heads to the locker room to freshen up. Jane and Reade remain seated as Nas gathers up loose papers and places them carefully into a folder. They are both deep in thought and are once again slightly startled when Nas speaks to them.

“So how long have Patterson and Zapata been pining after each other?” she asks as she continues sorting papers. She says it so casually that it takes a second for them to work out exactly what she just asked them. Reade splutters in surprise and Jane snaps her head up to stare at the shorter woman in shock. Nas chuckles as they seem to silently communicate through wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

“You’ve been here for three weeks and even you can see it! How are they so oblivious?” Reade throws up his hands at an utter loss as to how two women that are so smart can be so dense.

“To be honest, I had suspected something the day we met at the CIA black site but it became very clear that they weren’t together then.” Nas places the folder back on the table and leans against it.

“It’s been so long that I honestly can’t remember a time that they weren’t into each other.” Jane is so relieved that someone else has finally picked up on it because she was starting to question the sanity of herself and Reade. “Even back when…” she straightens up and back-hands Reade’s arm “Oh my God!”

“Ow. What the hell?” Reade grumbles and rubs a hand over the spot that Jane just whacked.

“The day that we went after Kazarov! That was the first time I suspected but I put it down to the high stakes of the mission and Patterson being in the field, but something was definitely up with Tasha.” Jane is bouncing excitedly in her seat.

“Holy shit! You’re right! How could I have been so blind? It was so obvious.” Clarity is shining over Reade as he thinks back to all of those months ago and he kind of wants to slap himself as he realises all of his teasing was so much worse for Tasha than he ever thought.

“What happened on the mission?” Nas, for once, looks utterly lost as she valiantly attempts to follow the track of this conversation.

“Tasha kissed Patterson to keep their cover. I saw it happen and logistically it was a good call and it kind of saved the day, but Tasha was kind of rattled afterwards. I always thought it was because of how close they were to being made, but what if it was her being slapped in the face with her feelings for Patterson?” Jane rambles as she starts putting the pieces together.

Nas looks thoughtfully between Reade and Jane “So I think I have an idea…”

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha taps a finger impatiently as she waits for the coffee machine to finish brewing, but it seems like the contraption is out to torment her. She checks a few e-mails on her phone and groans in annoyance when she reads the one about the mandatory work, health and safety meeting. They are always so boring and she makes a mental note to make sure Reade will be going with her, so they can keep each other entertained. She slips her phone back in her pocket as the coffee machine dings and she recoils in surprise, banging her elbow against the counter, when she realises Nas is standing next to her.

“Jesus! We need to get you a bell or something.” Tasha rubs her elbow miserably as she fires a weak glare at the NSA agent.

Nas smirks in response and raises an impeccable eyebrow at the grumpy brunette. “It seems like you FBI agents are all quite tense. I’m now three for five when it comes to accidentally startling your team members. Although I’m nearly positive that nothing will top Agent Reade’s reaction.”

Tasha lets out a genuine laugh at her assessment and turns to fill up her coffee cup. “Not that I’m not pleased that you’re crossing goals off your list and all, but what are you doing here? Somehow I can’t picture you drinking this shitty coffee.”

For the first time since Tasha has met the woman Nas actually looks uncomfortable and there is something so unsettling about witnessing the vulnerability in this formidable woman’s façade that it makes Tasha feel nauseous.

Nas quickly glances around the small kitchen area and takes a deep breath upon realising that they are alone. “Actually I was hoping you could shed some light on something for me. Jane has assured me that you would be the best person to speak to about this.”

“Sure, what do you need?” Tasha grips her cup in both of her hands, mind racing at the possibilities of where this conversation is heading.

Nas steps closer, right up into Tasha’s space and they realise at the same moment that Nas has a significant height advantage with her heels. “It’s about Patterson.”

“What about Patterson?” Tasha forces an air of nonchalance and hopes she looks casual sipping her coffee.

Nas wrings her hands together and can’t seem to look the shorter woman in the eye. “I was thinking that when we wrap up this case I would ask her on a date.”

Tasha cannot fathom how she ended up here. There is blood roaring in her ears and she takes a too large gulp of coffee that burns right down her throat and makes her eyes sting. She very nearly chokes on it and her roiling stomach feels like it is going to throw it back up. Someone else is interested in Patterson. She waited too damn long and now this gorgeous, accomplished, brilliant woman is going to ask Patterson out and she missed her chance. She feels like such an idiot for waiting, for being afraid of her feelings and she’s so, so mad at herself for not realising any of this even an hour ago. She suddenly realises that it is deathly silent and Nas is fidgeting in distress and Tasha opens and closes her mouth a few times, but she is nowhere near capable of forming words right now. She must have waited too long to respond though because Nas launches into a near Patterson worthy ramble.

“I’m sorry. Jane informed me that you and Patterson are close friends so I figured that if anyone would be able to help me it would be you. Just, is she single? Or somewhat queer inclined? I’ve found her quite difficult to read and I would rather not make a fool of myself, especially because I would very much like to work here again with you all. I’ve just found myself quite taken with how brilliant she is and of course I haven’t missed how gorgeous she is either.”

Tasha holds up a hand to halt the ramble and she clears her burning throat once, twice and semi drops her cup onto the counter top, still three quarters full. “Yes we are close friends. Yes she is single. Yes she has expressed an interest in women in the past. No I don’t have any idea if she would be into you romantically.”

Nas is eagerly nodding along and Tasha is pretty certain that she is going to cry or throw up. She’s not sure which it is yet, but she is so fucking sick of crying recently. She makes some vague attempt to excuse herself and she practically runs from the room. She brushes past Reade and Jane huddled together in the hallway and she doesn’t even slow down when they call her name.

Tasha rounds the corner and is out of sight in just over a heartbeat and Reade watches her go before he follows Jane into the kitchen. Nas is casually leaning against the counter, the smirk and steely façade firmly in place and Reade takes a moment to marvel at just how well this woman manipulated his friend. If he wasn’t so invested in the outcome he’d probably be mad but right now he is mostly impressed and just a little bit scared.

“Well, whether they are ready or not, things have been set into motion today. Are the two of you ready to carry out your part of the plan?” Nas stares them both down and they both nod in the affirmative. “Good, now it’s on the two of you to guide them to where they need to be.”

Reade shares a grim look with Jane and they both hustle from the room in search of their respective targets. He is praying that Tasha won’t murder him before all of this is over.  
 

* * *

 

 

Jane has checked three full floors of the building and she still can’t find Patterson. She curses under her breath as she once again finds an empty room and she racks her brain trying to work out where the blonde could be. She takes the stairs down another level and starts peering into doorways as she passes. She is starting to get very frustrated when she notices one of Patterson’s assistants scurrying out of a room at the end of the hall. The man looks genuinely terrified. Jane speeds up and looks through the small glass panel on the door and spies Patterson sitting on the floor, her back to the door, rustling through a large box. Jane opens the door, steps inside and freezes when Patterson visibly tenses up.

“Rodney I’ve gone over it so many times with you already! Work it out yourself!” the blonde growls in frustration.

“It’s Jane actually. I was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch.” Jane hesitantly makes her way forward when some of the tension leaves the blonde’s shoulders.

“Sorry Jane I’m just really busy at the moment.” Patterson shoves the box away and pulls another one over, immediately scattering various bits and pieces across the floor.

“Are you okay? You seem upset.” Jane gently lowers herself onto the ground close to the blonde, but still far enough away to give her some space.

Patterson scrubs a hand over her face and sighs. “Yes. No. Honestly I don’t even know.”

“Is it something I can help with?” Jane studies the things on the floor and she honestly has no idea what Patterson is looking for or even what this stuff is.

Patterson is silent for so long that Jane is almost convinced that she’s not going to say anything at all, but then the blonde shuffles a bit closer. “Do you remember what we talked about when we were out in the forest?”

Jane pretends to be deep in thought. “Is this about Tasha? Did she say something?”

“Not exactly. You know what? This is embarrassing, just pretend I didn’t say anything.” Patterson deflates and fiddles with a little box filled with colourful wires.

“Hey you can talk to me. I promise nothing that gets said will leave this room.” Jane smiles and slides herself over to nudge Patterson reassuringly.

“I accidentally overheard Nas speaking to Reade. She said that to avoid any conflict of interest she is going to wait until the case is over. She said that she is going to ask Tasha on a date.” She sadly plays with the frayed end of a blue wire.

“So what?” Jane grabs Patterson’s closest hand and gives it a squeeze. “That doesn’t mean that you’ve missed your chance. Tasha could say no or you could ask her out first. Nothing has actually happened yet.”

“What if I ask her out and she says no?” Patterson looks at Jane with her big, sad eyes hoping for reassurances from her tattooed friend.

“Honestly it will probably sting, but at least you’ll know and you can start to move on. She won’t say no though.” Jane offers her warmest smile and she hopes that the blonde is taking this to heart.

“You’re right! I’ll hate myself if I don’t and I’ll spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been.” Patterson stands up and drags Jane up with her. She haphazardly throws things back into the box and shoves it on a shelf. “Let’s go, you can help me find her.”

“Right now?” Jane squeaks as Patterson drags her from the storage room.

 

* * *

 

 

Reade finds Tasha in the second place he looks and he sends a text to Jane letting her know where they are before she notices him. She is furiously pacing alone in the gym and if looks could kill he would have been eviscerated the second he walked inside. He holds up his hands in a general surrender and she turns away from him.

“What do you want Reade?” She marches over to a bench and sits down.

“So I guess I was right in thinking you are upset.” He makes his way over and sits down next to her, fully aware that he is within striking distance if this goes poorly. “What happened?”

Tasha takes a deep breath and scrubs her hands through her hair. “If a single word leaves this room I will end you, am I clear?”

Reade makes a zipping motion over his lips “Not a word. I promise.”

“I missed my chance with Patterson. Every time I went to talk with her I got distracted or interrupted or I chickened out and now it’s too late.  Nas is going to ask her out and Patterson would be stupid to say no and we both know she is smarter than everyone in this building.” Tasha sighs and leans her face into her hands.

Reade shuffles closer and throws a comforting arm over his tiny friend and pulls her in for a gentle hug. “Nothing has happened yet though, so I’m going to believe that it will all work out in the end. I have faith in you Tasha.”

Tasha leans into the embrace and huffs out a sad laugh. “You have to say that though. It’s in the best friend rule book.”

Reade laughs too. “I’d say it even if we weren’t friends. You’re a catch, even if you are tiny.”

She shoves him before leaning back against the tall man, seeking comfort from his steady presence. Together they sit in silence and take advantage of this rare moment of peace, both lost in their own thoughts.

They both remain huddled together in the silent gym for a surprisingly long time. Reade is amazed that they haven’t been called away and that no-one has come in to use the room. The exhaustion of the past couple of weeks are beginning to catch up to him and he has to fight back the waves of sleep that are threatening to take him under, he has a job to do. Speaking of which, the door slamming open startles the two friends and Reade is lucky that he manages to remain on the seat because he jumps so much. He whips his head to face the doorway and has to bite back the grin that threatens to break out over his face when he sees exactly who is causing the commotion. Patterson is standing just inside, stock-still and wide-eyed like she has no idea why she is here. Jane is two steps behind her and red in the face like she just ran here.

“If you are ever going to say anything now is the time.” He whispers before standing up and greeting the women at the door.

He turns back to the shorter brunette and he honestly can’t tell if she’s mad at him, terrified, determined or some other emotion that he hasn’t even thought of.

“Just saying.” He winks at her and backs away, before turning and walking out with Jane. Patterson still hasn’t noticed him.

Tasha sits on the bench and fidgets as Patterson seems to shake herself out of the daze she seemed to be in. She stands up as the blonde approaches and silently curses how weak her knees feel right now. In the back of her mind she registers how hard her heart is beating and she vaguely wonders if it is something she should be concerned about. She has been replaying this moment in her head over and over for months and now that it is really happening she has absolutely no idea where to start. Patterson is standing so close and she can’t look away from her wide blue eyes. They both stand in awkward silence just staring at each other for a beat too long so Tasha panics and blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.

“Did you know that all of the swans in England belong to the Queen?”

“I actually did know that. Did you know that a duck’s quack doesn’t echo and nobody knows why?” Patterson grins at Tasha and the brunette feels the force of that smile burrow its way under her skin and it makes her feel warm all over.

She has no idea how her attempt to declare her feelings led to them talking about birds, even if the duck thing is interesting. No, Damn it! It’s time to focus. Patterson is standing so close that Tasha can reach out and touch her and, without thinking, she does. She trails two fingers gently along Patterson’s jaw and her mouth goes dry when the blonde shivers beneath her fingertips.

“Tasha…” Patterson breathes. She is trembling with hope and fear in equal measure and her thoughts are running a mile a minute, but the brunette has rendered her speechless with a single, delicate touch.

Tasha traces Patterson’s lower lip with her thumb and marvels at just how soft the other woman is. “God, you are so beautiful.” She says it so quietly that the blonde wouldn’t have heard her if they weren’t standing so close.

Patterson blushes beautifully at the honesty of the compliment. She reaches out to twirl the end of a strand of dark hair and looks Tasha in the eye. “Not as beautiful as you.”

Tasha’s heart stutters and her fingers make their way into silky, blonde hair. She takes half a breath and leans in close, leaving only the barest space between their lips. Patterson closes the gap almost immediately and their lips glide together gently, the blonde’s hands coming to rest around her waist. They separate after a moment and just look at each other, before leaning in again. The first kiss was a gentle exploration, a kind of innocent ‘I’m here’, and the second is so much more. It is the passion and force of months of waiting and wanting. It is all of the missed opportunities and the ‘I can’t believe I finally have the chance to do this’. It is everything Tasha ever fantasised that it could be and she is absolutely bursting at the seams with happiness. They break apart again and just stand together, holding each other, breathing in the moment before they are dragged back into the real world.

“Will you let me take you out to dinner?” Tasha breaks the comfortable silence, nervous even after the kiss they shared.

“Like a date?” Patterson grins.

“Yeah, I really like you. Like a lot, so I want to take you out, if that’s’ okay?” Tasha is idly fidgeting with the button on Patterson’s lab coat.

“I would love to go on a date with you.” The blonde punctuates her statement with another chaste kiss.

Tasha is absolutely giddy with excitement and she would happily stay in this moment forever but of course it isn’t meant to be. Their phones ring simultaneously and just like that, the real world is calling and they are swept back up into the rush and drama of the case, but not before a couple more kisses and the confirmation of their date.

 

* * *

 

 

They make their way back upstairs holding hands and grinning like idiots. They reach the briefing room and unlace their fingers before going inside. They both involuntarily flinch when they see Nas reading a file at the head of the table. Jane, Reade and Nas are the only people here so far, meaning they beat Weller and Mayfair, and Tasha is immediately suspicious of the grins they share as she sits down next to Patterson. Reade has his chair tilted back and he is munching trail mix out of a bag. Tasha stares at him as a smile spreads lazily across his face.

Jane is the one to break the silence though. “Did you guys know that flamingos can only eat with their heads upside down?”

Jane’s face is too neutral to be casual and Tasha knows immediately that something is up. This feeling is confirmed when Nas joins in. “The only wingless bird is the New Zealand kiwi.”

It clicks into place at the same time that the front legs of Reade’s chair hit the floor and she isn’t sure whether she should be furious or embarrassed. Patterson’s wide eyes tell Tasha that the blonde has worked it out as well.

Reade leans forward and grins at them. “Did you know that there is a bird in Australia that hunts for worms using farts?”

Jane snorts in amusement and Tasha levels the three agents with a withering glare. “How much did you hear?”

It is now glaringly obvious that Jane and Reade didn’t go very far when they ‘apparently’ left the gym and Nas is in on the joke which means that she knows and. Oh. My. God. Tasha points her finger accusingly at her. “You played me! All of that crap about asking Patterson out...”

“Wait, what?” Patterson interrupts. “I overheard you talking to Reade about asking Tasha out.”

Nas, Jane and Reade all trade conspiratorial glances and slightly wither under the force of Tasha’s glare. “Someone had better start explaining.”

“Tasha you both like each other. You had told me and Patterson had told Jane and we got to talking and then Nas got involved and you were both so convinced that it was one-sided that we had to do something.” Reade rushes out, hoping that if he can get the words out fast enough that Tasha won’t be too mad.

Tasha sighs in frustration. “Okay. I’m mad that you clearly have nothing better to do than talk about our personal lives but you were maybe, kind of, right.”

Patterson laces her fingers with Tasha’s under the table and the brunette marginally relaxes.

The door swings open and Kurt walks in with another file and drops into the closest chair. He looks around and he realises he must have interrupted something. “So what are we talking about?”

“Bird trivia.” Nas supplies.

Kurt furrows his brows because what the hell? Then he leans forward excitedly. “Did you guys know that falcons can swoop at over two hundred miles an hour?”

He is confused when everyone sputters with laughter because he wasn’t trying to be funny, but he is glad to see his team in good spirits. Mayfair enters the room and the laughter dies down and they get into the business side of this meeting. They spend the next hour going over the case and he notices that Tasha and Patterson smile at each other a lot when they think no-one is paying attention.

 

* * *

 

 

Kurt quickly jogs to catch the tall brunette waiting for the elevator. “Hey Jane can I talk to you for a minute?”

She turns to him with a bright smile. “Sure, what’s up?”

The elevator doors open and they both step in. He waits until the doors close and they are alone before he continues. “I think Tasha and Patterson might like each other…” At Jane’s blank stare, he elaborates. “You know? Romantically.”

Kurt is so thoroughly confused when Jane’s booming laughter fills the elevator.


	14. Ups and Downs and Always

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So exactly two years ago today I posted the first chapter of this story and today I'm posting the last.  
> It's been 8 months since I updated because I truly had no idea how to wrap this up.  
> All good things have to come to an end eventually and I'm sorry for dragging this on for so long.  
> It's been an absolute pleasure writing for this fandom and I love you all.

Tasha has dragged Reade to no less than fourteen stores this morning looking for a present for Patterson. In three days it will be their three year anniversary and she wants it to be perfect. She just can’t work out what to get her. Reade became useless after the third store, at this point he is just here for moral support and the occasional snack supply.

She sighs in defeat as she realises that this store is another dead end and she looks around to find Reade. She spots him slouched over in the designated boyfriend chair completely asleep. There is a sales assistant awkwardly hovering nearby like she wants to wake him up, but she is laughing too much over how loud he is snoring.

Tasha pulls out her phone and records him before sending it to the group chat. She pockets her phone and slaps his leg to wake him up. He startles awake and attempts to subtly wipe away the drool at the corner of his mouth.

“Did you find something?” He asks with hope shining bright in his eyes.

“No, nothing is good enough for her.” Tasha grumbles.

Reade stands up and stretches out his back. “We’ll find something eventually.”

Tasha is distracted from her miserable thoughts by Reade’s phone ringing and she can tell by the way his posture straightens that it has to be work. She knows that they are done for the day and disappointment washes over her that she didn’t find anything for Patterson. Reade gestures that she should follow him and he keeps talking to whoever is on the other end of the call. They walk back to the car and just like that they are swept up into another case.

 

* * *

 

 

They meet Jane and Kurt at the elevator and all ride up together. The doors open on their floor and they are met by Rich Dotcom holding a Tupperware container with something unidentifiable in it. The smell of it makes Tasha cringe and she notices Kurt’s face is scrunched up in distaste.

“Is that evidence?” Reade asks as he covers his nose.

“No? It’s lunch.” Rich grins as he pulls out a spoon and sticks it in the container.

“What have we got Rich?” Kurt demands when it becomes clear that the hacker is not going to tell them why they were called in.

“Patterson is waiting for you guys in her office. We cracked another tattoo.” Rich states around a mouthful of food.

They all walk there together and Tasha is surprised to see Patterson’s father with her. The blonde hadn’t mentioned that he was coming to town. She is not nearly as astonished as the rest of the team though. They pause awkwardly as they realise exactly who is working with Patterson and Kurt’s eyes light up in childlike wonder.

“Tasha! It’s good to see you again. You’re looking well.” Bill Nye strides over to the brunette and wraps her up in a tight hug.

“It’s good to see you too, Bill. I didn’t realise you were coming to town.” Tasha grins at the enthusiasm of her girlfriend’s father. She was terrified the first time she went to meet the blonde’s parents and when she realised that Patterson’s father is Bill Nye she nearly had a heart attack. Thankfully they all got on really well and she actually enjoys the family dinners they have when Patterson’s parents come to visit.

“It was a last minute trip.” Bill grins and glances between Patterson and Tasha and the brunette immediately knows that he is holding something back, but she knows that now is not the time to be looking into it. “I hope we can have dinner before I leave though.”

“Of course we can.” Tasha pecks her girlfriend on the cheek as she walks over to the two of them and the brunette realises that the rest of the team is standing around gaping at them.

“You know Bill Nye?!” Kurt squawks in a hilariously high pitch tone.

“Of course I do, I’ve been dating Patterson for three years. It would be weird if I hadn’t met her parents before now.” Tasha smirks as Kurt looks like he is about to feint.

“Bill Nye is Patterson’s father!” Kurt stares wide-eyed at the blonde. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Mostly because of this…” The blonde waves a hand indicating the slack-jawed look of shock gracing the faces of most people in the room.

“Oh my God, I have so many questions.” Kurt claps his hands together in excitement.

“Of course you do.” Patterson sighs and scrubs a hand down her face.

Tasha chuckles at how exasperated her girlfriend looks but she makes a mental note to talk to everyone so that they don’t make a big deal out this. “What have we got, Patterson?”

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha and Reade are quietly creeping down a dark hallway with their guns drawn. They have traced their suspects to this large, two-storey warehouse and they know that they have no problem killing people so they are being appropriately cautious. Jane and Kurt are somewhere downstairs searching the bottom floor and Tasha can hear them whispering “clear” through the coms as they make their way through. Tasha stands guard as Reade quickly checks another room and her skin prickles until she hears him say “clear.” She can’t help the smirk that works its way onto her face at the sound of Patterson and Rich bickering on the coms from the office. The two are unlikely friends and, as much as Tasha can’t stand him on most days, she would never begrudge the friendship her girlfriend is building with him. Patterson and Rich are watching their progress at the office through the body cameras they all have strapped to their vests.

They make it to the last door at the end of the hallway and they do a quick count to three before swinging it open. Inside is a large, open office-like space filled with desks and partition walls. Tasha shares a grim look with Reade before proceeding forward. It is the perfect place for an ambush and Tasha’s skin crawls with the possibilities of how badly this could go for them.

Reade goes left and she goes right. They swiftly check each cubicle and once they are satisfied that the top floor is clear they make their way towards the stairwell. Tasha is closer so she waits at the door for Reade to make his way over. He is almost there when shouting comes through the coms. Kurt is saying that he and Jane have found two of the three suspects and from where she is standing she can hear the gunfire start downstairs.

Something crashes in one of the cubicles and Reade whirls around with his gun drawn and takes a few steps back the way he came from. Thankfully it was just because of the wind from an open window but Tasha’s heart is pounding now.

They hear Jane shout “bomb!” and suddenly the floor beneath their feet shakes violently. Large cracks splinter all around them and Tasha doesn’t even get a chance to scream before Reade and most of the cubicles crash down to the first floor. Tasha does her best to relay what just happened to Patterson as she stares in shock at the giant hole that used to be the floor. She runs down the staircase as fast as she can and does her best to ignore the fact that Reade, Jane and Weller are no longer responding on their coms. She kicks open the door to the ground floor and her eyes water from the dust that has been stirred up from all of the rubble. She does her best to mentally map where Reade would have fallen but a sharp sting in her neck has her gasping in surprise.

Her vision tilts and a tidal wave of exhaustion washes over her. She realises with a foggy sense of terror that she is somehow on the floor and there is a strange man standing over her. She knows that this is really bad and she needs to stop him, but her arms feel like dead weights and she isn’t really sure where her gun is anymore. She tries to sit up but her head throbs before it even leaves the floor. Her eyes are growing heavy and each time she blinks it gets harder and harder to open them again. She can hear Patterson’s voice in her ear and she does her best to focus on the sound. She can’t understand what her girlfriend is saying but she thinks that if she is going to die, at least the last thing she will hear is the voice of the woman she loves. She wishes she could make her mouth work so that she can tell the blonde she loves her one last time, but this will have to be enough.

 

* * *

 

 

Patterson screams at the monitor as their main suspect reaches down and rips the camera from Tasha’s vest before it goes dark and they lose the feed. She has no idea if her girlfriend is dead or not and she wills the backup teams to hurry up and get to the warehouse.

She frantically glances between the three remaining cameras and prays to Gods that she doesn’t believe in that they are okay. Reade must have landed on his front when he crashed through the floor because the only thing they can see is rubble. The blast from the bomb sent Jane and Kurt flying and neither of them are moving either. Jane’s camera is pointing at the roof and Kurt must be on his side because they can see Jane’s feet in the frame along with the carnage that Reade must be buried in.

After all of the noise from the explosion and the team yelling, the sudden silence is jarring. Mayfair and Rich are both speechless and Patterson can’t help but yell at the team to get up. To do something, anything, to indicate that they are still alive. The backup team are still ten minutes away, even though they are breaking speeding laws on Mayfair’s orders to get there faster.

The view from Jane’s camera suddenly wobbles and Patterson’s attention immediately snaps to it. A loud groan comes through the coms and it forces back the panic attack that Patterson could feel building. Jane rolls over onto her hands and knees before crawling towards Kurt. She shakes him and the team at the office all hold their breath as they wait for him to respond. After a tense few moments he groans back into consciousness and Rich collapses into a chair with a sigh of relief.

“Jane, Weller, report!” Mayfair demands.

Jane helps Kurt sit up and responds as he gets his bearings. “We couldn’t get out of the blast radius fast enough and it put us through a wall. I think I’ve broken my wrist and I definitely have a concussion but aside from that I think I’m okay.”

“What about you Weller?” Mayfair paces back and forth in front of the monitors.

“Concussion, maybe a couple of cracked ribs. Nothing serious though.” Kurt groans as he makes his way to his feet. “We took out two of the suspects before the bomb went off. Did Reade and Zapata get the third?”

“Reade was standing above the bomb on the second floor and is no longer responding on coms. He’s somewhere in the rubble and he isn’t moving. Zapata avoided the blast but came into contact with the third suspect at the bottom of the stairs. She was down and we have no idea what her status is because he cut the feed from her vest.” Mayfair is matter-of-fact but for everyone that knows her, they can hear the worry in her voice.

“Okay, Jane you go for Tasha and I’m gonna find Reade.” Kurt declares and passes his gun to Jane. She checks the clip before jogging towards the stairwell and Kurt asks Patterson to help him narrow down where Reade could have fallen.

Patterson pulls up the feed from Tasha’s camera that was facing Reade as he fell and does some quick calculations. She guides Kurt to the right area and he finds Reade almost immediately lying on top of the rubble. They all hold their breaths as Kurt checks for a pulse. There is a beat of silence before Kurt finds it and they all sigh in relief. He knows better than to move the man though, so he does his best to stabilise Reade’s neck and he hopes that there isn’t any spinal damage.

Jane has to stop and climb over some of the rubble before she can reach the bottom of the stairwell and Patterson is shaking in fear at what the tall brunette might find. Rich notices and takes her by the hand. He doesn’t comment when she squeezes hard enough to leave bruises either. Jane climbs down the other side and frowns in confusion. Tasha is nowhere to be found.

She walks around but she can’t find any sign of the other woman. “Are you sure this is where she went down?”

“Positive.” Mayfair responds.

Jane opens the door that leads outside and her stomach drops when she notices a small pile ten steps from the door containing Tasha’s bullet-proof vest, camera, guns and earpiece. “He must have taken her.”

“If he took her, that means she’s still alive right?” Patterson turns her teary eyes towards Mayfair.

“We can only hope.” Mayfair nods grimly.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha jerks violently back into consciousness as a bucket of ice cold water is thrown over her. She opens her eyes and is immediately blinded by two large spotlights shining down on her. She registers the bite of coarse rope, harshly binding her to a chair by her arms and legs. She feels a small surge of relief that she somehow isn’t dead yet, even if this situation is not ideal.

A tall silhouette of a man towers over her and grabs her by her hair. He yanks her head towards a red blinking light and the harsh movement causes a surge of bile to rise up her throat and she vomits on his shoes. He slaps her across the face, but on some level she kind of thinks it was worth it.

He brings the flashing red light closer and she can see that it is a camera. He shoves it in her face and she cringes when he grabs her by the hair again.

“As you can see, your Agent is still alive and mostly unharmed. If you ever want to see her alive again you will have my two comrades returned to me by six o’clock. If they are not, she will die. Slowly and in agony.” He releases his grip on Tasha’s hair and her head lolls forward.

He places the camera back on the tripod and picks up a syringe off of a tray. He walks back over to Tasha and she can’t even fight him off as he sticks it in her neck. The blackness swallows her easily this time.

 

* * *

 

 

The video playback of the demands video comes to an end and Patterson storms out of the office towards the bathroom. She rushes into a stall and dry heaves over the bowl. For two days they searched high and low for any trace of where he could have taken Tasha before he sent the video. Kurt has been walking around, stiff with his fractured ribs, refusing to leave even though he suffered a concussion because one of his people is still missing. Jane got back to the office around two hours after Kurt with a cast on her left wrist and a large bandage on her forehead and said that when Kurt left she would too.

Reade is still in the hospital getting scans but so far it looks like the only injuries he received are a broken leg, concussion and a ruptured spleen. The doctors are confident that he will make a full recovery but he is furious that he can’t come in and help everyone to find his best friend. His girlfriend Meg is the only reason he hasn’t forced his way out of the hospital yet.

Patterson gets up and walks over to the sink and starts running the water. She furiously scrubs at the tears leaking from her eyes and does her best to force the image of her girlfriend tied to that chair out of her mind. She keeps repeating to herself “at least she’s alive” over and over again but it doesn’t stop the fear that is creeping up her spine.

The door crashes open and she jumps in surprise. “What the hell?”

“Rich found her! He managed to trace the video somehow and he got a location.” Jane shouts in excitement.

“Seriously?!” Patterson turns off the tap and rushes out of the bathroom after Jane.

The two women rush out to the bullpen where a full tactical team is gearing up to bring Tasha home. Kurt and Jane insist on going, despite their injuries, and no-one manages to tell them otherwise. Patterson rushes back to her office and plants herself in front of the monitors so that she can see everything that is happening.

 

* * *

 

 

Jane stands at the head of the tactical team with Kurt as everyone gets into position at all of the other entrances. Her helmet presses against the wound on her forehead but the pain keeps her alert. Once all of the teams are ready Kurt calls out “breach” and they rush through the doorway. They storm down some stairs and come to a closed doorway. One of the Agents with them kicks it down and they continue forward.

“Suspect located. Engaging now.” An Agent states through the coms and his words are accompanied by distant gunfire.

They breach another doorway and find Tasha tied to a chair. Her chin is resting against her chest and her hair is hanging loose around her head. Jane rushes over and checks for a pulse. She cringes at how damp and cold Tasha feels but she sighs in relief at the weak thrumming of the vein underneath her fingertips.

“We need Med Evac immediately. Zapata is unconscious but alive.” Jane shouts as she starts cutting Tasha free from the chair.

“Suspect eliminated. Med Evac is clear for entry.” The Agent from before declares.

“Affirmative. Med Evac entering now.” A different Agent declares.

Once Jane has finished cutting the ropes the Agent that was kicking the doors down helps her get Tasha on the floor and resting in the recovery position so that her airways are clear. The Med Evac team arrives promptly and gets her strapped onto a stretcher and Jane follows them as they rush her out of the building and into a waiting ambulance. Jane hops into the back and lets Patterson and everyone else know that they are on their way to the hospital.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha wakes with a start and she notices immediately that things are different from the last time that she was conscious. It takes a second for her vision to focus in the half light and she almost wants to cry in relief when she registers that she is in a hospital. Patterson is asleep in a chair pulled right up against her bedside and Tasha’s heart clenches at the sight. She will get the chance to tell the blonde just how much she loves her. There is another bed in the room and her eyes shine with tears when she realises that Reade is in it and that he survived the blast.

There is an armchair in the far corner of the room and Jane and Kurt are squashed into it and sleeping soundly. Jane’s cast is resting on the arm of the chair to avoid any accidental bumps. Once she is satisfied that her team are all safe and accounted for she relaxes back into her pillow. She turns on her side and reaches out for Patterson and brushes her hair out of her eyes. The movement has the blonde blinking awake and she immediately rises out of the chair to assess her girlfriend.

“How are you feeling?” Patterson whispers in delight.

“Like I’m a little bit hungover but it’s not too bad.” Tasha smiles and tries to pull the blonde onto the bed with her.

“What are you doing? We won’t fit.” Patterson protests.

“Of course we will. Get in here, I need to hug you.” Tasha pouts and any resolve Patterson may have had disappears.

The blonde climbs into the bed and wraps her arms around her girlfriend. They both relax into the embrace and lay in content silence for a little while. “Happy Anniversary, Tasha.” Patterson whispers into the brunette’s neck.

Tasha pulls back in alarm. “It’s our anniversary? How long was I out? What happened?”

Patterson pulls Tasha back in for another hug as she tries to calm her girlfriend down. “That’s not important right now. You’re okay and everyone’s okay and since it’s like four in the morning it is now our anniversary and we’re together. That’s all that matters to me.”

“I didn’t get a chance to get you anything.” Tasha sniffles, completely disappointed with herself.

“You don’t have to get me things for me to love you, you know?” Patterson grins at how adorable her girlfriend is being. The woman was held captive for two days and the first thing she worries about when she wakes up is her lack of an anniversary present.

“I know, but I want you to know that I wanted to get you something great because I love you and you deserve nice things.” Tasha rambles as she plays with Patterson’s fingers.

“How about this, you don’t have to get me anything this year…” Patterson holds up a hand to forestall the argument she can see burning in the brunette’s eyes. “Just answer one question for me.”

“This doesn’t feel like a fair trade for you.” Tasha grumbles.

“Trust me, it is. It’s an important question.” Patterson leans forward and places a delicate kiss on Tasha’s lips, revelling in the shy smile that blossoms on the brunette’s face at the action.

“Fine, ask away.” Tasha teases.

Patterson fumbles something out of the pocket in her jeans and it takes Tasha a second to work out that it is a ring. “Will you marry me?”

Tasha’s eyes go comically wide and she stares at the beautiful rose gold ring in wonder. “You want to marry me?”

“Well I had planned on asking you differently but somehow this seems on brand for us. That’s why Dad was in town, this was my grandmother’s ring. Also you can’t answer a question like that with a question!” Patterson rambles nervously because Tasha still hasn’t said the magic word.

“Yes.” Tasha surges forward and kisses Patterson with tears of happiness in her eyes. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

Patterson slides the ring onto Tasha’s finger with shaking hands and a smile so wide that her face hurts. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Tasha kisses her fiancée and snuggles back down under the blanket pulling the other woman close for comfort.

They both fall asleep pressed together with smiles on their faces.

 

* * *

 

 

Tasha wakes up again a few hours later to the grating sound of Rich Dotcom’s voice and the laughter of all of her family. Patterson is already awake but she is still lying in the bed holding Tasha protectively against her chest. The blonde sits up as she does and she looks around the room at everyone’s happy faces.

“What is everyone doing in here?” Tasha grumbles.

“Rich brought food that wasn’t made in the hospital and we are doing family breakfast.” Reade declares as he shoves a bagel in his mouth.

Tasha rubs some sleep from her eyes as Rich hands Patterson a cup of coffee. Rich gasps loudly and startles the blonde so much that she nearly drops the cup.

“Oh my God! Grumpypants said yes!” Rich fist-pumps the air and Tasha hates herself a little bit for smiling at his antics, but she is going to marry Patterson and that thought will always make her smile.

Jane comes over and half lies on top of them to give them a hug before admiring Tasha’s new ring. “Congratulations!”

“I love weddings!” Rich swoons causing Patterson to giggle.

Tasha’s heart swells at the look of happiness plastered across Patterson’s face and she can’t do anything other than kiss the woman that she is going to marry. She pulls away from the blonde when a nurse walks in and tells them to quiet down with all of the cheering because they are upsetting other patients down the hall.

“I can’t with all of this love and happiness right now. I’m gonna go see if I can find that hot doctor that was here before.” Rich winks at them before marching out the door with Kurt hot on his heels, telling him to leave the hospital staff alone.

“I’d better go deal with that before we all get thrown out.” Jane quickly takes a bite out of a sandwich before rushing out the door after the two bickering men.

“So do I get to be your best man, or what?” Reade smirks at Tasha.

“Of course you’re going to be my best man!” Tasha declares.

“Knew it.” Reade cheers before lying back down in his bed. “Love you guys. I’m glad you’re okay Tash.”

“Love you too, loser.” Tasha sticks her tongue out at Reade and the tall man laughs at his best friend’s antics.

“You should rest some more too.” Patterson encourages her to settle back down on the bed.

“Will you stay with me?” Tasha yawns.

“Forever.” Patterson whispers as Tasha drifts off to sleep in her arms.


End file.
